


Lotus

by Akiragane



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: American Society (USA), Angst, Fluff, I can't tag like a normal person, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other, Smut, Tags will be updated as the story progresses, Takes Place in The Modern Era, all the magi are siblings, dance au, there are portions where there is chat fic, triple combo, way too many references tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28103622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiragane/pseuds/Akiragane
Summary: Dancing. An art form that can be expressed in many different ways, including competitively. And that's why Alibaba dances. Not just to win, but for the rush of actually being able to move his body in a way that captivates the audience.But he can't just drop everything for dancing. He has a life and a family, even if it's just him and his dad... until that's also taken away from him.Now he's stuck in a duo with a hot guy he barely knows who apparently is Aladdin's brother?Yup, there is no way this wasn't going to end up a dumpster fire.
Relationships: Judal | Judar/Alibaba Saluja
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. Looking At Me/Royalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "That seems kinda shallow."
> 
> Judar shot him a look. Alibaba covered his mouth with his hand. Why had he said that? It wasn't his place to say anything about their family, so why had he said that? Judar sighed loudly and dramatically, tipping his head back. "Yeah, well I'm pretty fucking rude..." he mumbled, looking Alibaba back in the eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not plan for this to be out so soon, but I kinda ran out of time??
> 
> Regardless welcome to this. No, I'm not done with a different Alibaba/Judar fic that I probably won't touch until this one is finished but who cares? Certainly not me hehe. 
> 
> Also if this starts to feel a little itty bitty bit familiar... no it doesn't. I'm not plagiarizing but I am using a lot of different tropes that are often in this type of fanfiction. So... yeah.
> 
> This ship needed more content and I was more than happy to provide you all with some. :)

"This place looks shady as fuck."

"Compared to our old studio? It's like a castle."

"You know what, that's fair."

Aladdin opened the doors of the dance studio, Alibaba and Morgiana following suite. Aladdin walked right up to the front desk and smiled at the man behind the counter. "Hello there!" he spoke cheerfully. "We need a room that will work for three people please."

Despite being the youngest in the group, just shy of 19, Aladdin was definitely the most extroverted. He was able to talk to and connect with anyone he wanted to and did it with great ease as well. Pretty impressive for someone who's native language wasn't English. 

Of course, they weren't in a studio that was familiar to them, so Alibaba and Morgiana were a bit uncomfortable around the new atmosphere. Their old studio had an accident which had resulted in the entire thing going down in flames. Luckily no one but the owner was inside so no one got hurt, and the owner was able to make it out safely. But this meant the trio needed to find a new studio to practice in

They paid for and got a card to their room, Aladdin grabbing both of their hands and practically dragging Morgiana and Alibaba up the stairs to the fifth floor. Morgiana was able to keep pace but Alibaba got winded around floor three. He really wasn't cut out for endurance stuff.

Eventually, they arrived at the top floor, Aladdin running through the door of room 5-C, stopping in his tracks once he entered. "Wow! This place is huge!"

Indeed it was. The room had to be twice as big as their old studio, and one of the walls was just one big mirror with a bar, probably mostly used for ballet dancers, but it was still really cool. The walls appeared to be soundproof and there was a speaker on the walls where Alibaba could easily plug his phone in to play music.

The trio started off with a few stretches, but Alibaba could see that Aladdin was anxious to dance. He kept bouncing up and down at every chance, and it made Alibaba smile a little bit.

When they were finally finished stretching Aladdin ran to the center of the room and started hopping up and down, truly a child at heart. Morgiana set her bag down and sat down in front of the mirror while Alibaba got set up and plugged into the speakers.

"Alright, Aladdin, what do you want me to play?" he asked, scrolling through the playlists.

Aladdin giggled, then gave Alibaba a little smirk. He knew that look. "You know the song I wanna start off with."

Of course. Alibaba smiled to himself and pressed play on the song he knew Aladdin loved to dance to and sat next to Morgiana as the drums started pounding in the speakers. Aladdin closed his eyes and started tapping his bare feet to the music, that was something that was unique to Aladdin, he never wore his shoes or even socks while dancing. If he did it threw him off entirely.

Aladdin's dancing style was actually incredible, as though he was telling a story with his movements, and especially in this case, with Prince Ali from Disney's _Aladdin_ running through the room, the lyrics in their native language of Arabic, the language Aladdin was most familiar with. Aladdin was born in Saudi Arabia, much like his siblings, and came over to the United States when he was young. He learned English quickly and picked up on dancing even quicker.

His dancing incorporated much of his culture, a lot of fluid movements with his hands and arms and stomping with his feet, mouthing along with the words Morgiana and Alibaba had no way to comprehend.

When Aladdin got to the ending high note he lifted his arms in the air, waving his hands around, and ending in a bow, as though he was in the presence of a real sultan. Morgiana and Alibaba both applauded for him. Aladdin smiled at them. "Was that good?" he asked.

Morgiana nodded, standing up. "Fantastic as always, Aladdin," she said.

Aladdin ran forward, grabbed her hand and jumping up and down. "Your turn, Morg!"

Morgiana nodded once and went to the center of the room as well. Alibaba picked up his phone again. "Song choice?" he asked.

"Um, let's go with Try Everything by Shakira, okay?"

"Yup, that's perfect."

The familiar song started and Morgiana nodded her head along to it. Aladdin nodded with her and Alibaba watched her intently. Then Morgiana started moving. Alibaba would be lying if he said that Morgiana wasn't was one of the best dancers he knew. Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and it was magical. She was good with fast-paced songs, taking up a lot of space when she danced, leaping up in the air every chance she got, always doing it with a smile on her face.

Dancing was really her true passion, she loved it with her entire being, it was so important to her, her escape. And she was damn good at it. 

She made eye contact with Alibaba when she jumped up, skirt flaring with black shorts underneath, making eye contact with Alibaba, who smiled at her. She hit the ground for less than a second and jumped back into the swing of things. When she was finished she ended with her legs spread apart, one hand up and pointing at the sky, as though she was posing for the cover of Hamilton.

Aladdin applauded loudly. Alibaba scrolled through some of the other songs, trying to settle on what he wanted to dance to, well all of a sudden there was the sound of a phone notification from Aladdin's bag. The boy in question pulled it out and checked it, face lighting up.

"Hey guys, guess who's on the floor directly below us!" he called. "My brother!"

Morgiana raised an eyebrow. "Which one?" she asked.

"Judar," Aladdin replied. "And the best part, he doesn't know we're here!"

"Have we met this one?" Alibaba asked, pocketing his phone for now. "You have like three siblings. Way too many if you ask me."

Aladdin shrugged. "I don't think you've met Judar. He's like four years older than me, but definitely not the oldest. He doesn't like people though. But I still wanna surprise him! I didn't tell him we were going to this studio, just that we were going to a new dance studio."

Morgiana cocked her head. "Is that the reason you brought us here? Because your brother comes here?"

"Yeah, he and his dance partner come here most often, so I figured if it was good enough for him it should be good enough for us."

That was fair enough. The old studio they went to was the closest to all of their locations, so that's why they went there. But this one was closer to where Aladdin lived, so it made sense that his brother would also come here.

Alibaba smiled. "I think we should at least say hi to him, I'd love to meet more of your family."

Aladdin cheered. Morgiana shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt." she agreed.

So the three crept down the stairs (even though sneaking wasn't entirely necessary) and arrived in front of the door 4-D. Aladdin listened against the door, then motioned for Alibaba and Morgiana to come closer. Then he cracked the door open just enough for them to see inside.

Inside were two people. One of them was standing against the mirror, going through his phone. He wore a white hoodie and grey sweatpants, dark hair and a scar over his left eye, giving Alibaba chills.

But the other person in the room absolutely took his breath away. He was a dark-haired man with a long thick ponytail tied off into puffs trailing behind him, cutting off at his ankles. He wore a black crop top with fishnets poking out at his midsection and where the shirt cut off at his forearms and black baggy sweatpants as well. He had crimson eyes lined with dark eyeliner that stunned Alibaba for a moment. Like Aladdin, he wore no shoes nor socks on the dancefloor. 

Alibaba guessed the one with the eyeliner was Aladdin's brother, they had a similar vibe... and the long hair was kind of a giveaway.

"Alright, which fucking sexy-ass song do you want to warm-up to today?" the other guy asked, not even looking up from his phone.

The man who Alibaba was assuming was Judar laughed. "You know me too well, Hakuryuu. I was thinking... Looking At Me, Sabrina Carpenter."

Hakuryuu hummed and pressed a button. A trumpet sounded and Judar smirked, snapping his fingers before he started dancing with the music. Alibaba was completely enthralled. Judar's dancing was all hips and body, using every feature to his advantage. Alibaba almost blushed, it was like watching a stripper perform. He swallowed thickly.

The song sounded strangely Spanish even though the lyrics were in English, and Judar was matching it perfectly, style going along with its underlying tones, lots of spinning and footwork, but also putting his own spin on it. This wasn't how Aladdin danced at all, were they really siblings?

Alibaba felt all internal organs completely melt into a puddle at the succession when Judar snapped his hips. He covered his face. God, being bisexual was so hard sometimes.

Aladdin was smiling, Morgiana seemed... shocked? As though it was hard for her to believe that anyone could ever think to dance so provocatively. Alibaba was simply trying not to die. 

The song ended and Judar's bangs flopped over his eyes, breathing heavily, but a smirk still gracing his features.

Aladdin cheered loudly and ran into the room, startling the both of them. "Judar! Hey, that was amazing!" Aladdin called, practically running into his brother's arms.

Judar caught him with complete ease, despite being incredibly taken off-guard. Having siblings must mean getting jumped was a regular occurrence. "Aladdin? The hell are you doing here? I thought you went to a different studio." he asked, setting Aladdin down.

The height difference was real. Aladdin, in general, was really small but standing next to his brother it really was apparent. Aladdin smiled. "I told you, didn't I? The studio me, Morg, and Alibaba usually go to got burned down!"

Hakuryuu nodded. "Oh yeah, that was in the news, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah, but you didn't tell me you were relocating here," Judar replied.

He looked up and flinched when he realized Morgiana and Alibaba at the door. Alibaba smiled and gave a little wave, Morgiana was indifferent. "I... shouldn't you guys be practising?" Judar asked, looking back down at Aladdin.

Aladdin cocked his head. "Well, yeah, but I wanted to surprise you! We're gonna be practising in the same studio now, isn't that fun?!" he said excitedly.

Hakuryuu walked over to Judar, lifting his arm up and resting his elbow on Judar's shoulder, who had his arms crossed. "That's really sweet, but we have regionals to practice for, and by the looks of it, so do you."

Morgiana cleared her throat. "Yeah, Aladdin, c'mon. We need to get back to work." she walked over and put her hand on Aladdin's shoulder.

Alibaba looked between Hakuryuu and Judar. "Are you guys going as a pair? Like a partner dance?"

Hakuryuu nodded. "Yeah, have been for the past two years, and this year won't be any different."

Judar smirked again. "Yup, and this year is going to be the year that we win!"

Alibaba blinked. Morgiana rolled her eyes. "You sure you're Aladdin's brother? You seem way too cocky to be related to him."

"Oh shut the hell up!" Judar downright barked at her. "You guys should be grateful that you got to watch me warm up at all, can't wait to see your faces when we get on the stage."

"Tone it down, Judar," Hakuryuu warned.

Alibaba had migrated next to Morgiana at this point, and she was glaring at Judar, he felt like he was in the middle of a catfight. "I'm not sure if the judges would allow that kind of dancing, seems a bit adult for an audience that might have kids in it."

"You wanna repeat that, bitch?!" Judar shouted.

Hakuryuu slapped his shoulder. "Stop it." he looked over at Morgiana. "It hasn't been a problem before, and it's not going to be a problem now, I can assure you of that. Plus I keep him in check whenever we do competitions."

Morgiana looked down at her feet, awkwardly shifting around. Alibaba cleared his throat. "Um, you're right, we probably should get back to our practice. Nice meeting you!" he said, trying to drag Aladdin and Morgiana out.

Judar locked eyes with him, a scowl replacing that confident smirk he had on a second ago. "Hey, blondie. What's your name?"

Alibaba blinked. "Uh, Alibaba," he replied.

"Alibaba, huh? Well..." Judar smiled. "See you around then."

"Yeah, see ya." Alibaba waved as the door closed.

Morgiana sighed loudly once they were out of the room. "Aladdin, your brother is kind of a jerk," she remarked as they started walking back up the stairs.

Aladdin puffed out his cheeks. "Yeah, a bit." he agreed. "But he's a better dancer than me by a long shot, and he's super competitive. He might actually win this year with Hakuryuu."

Alibaba rubbed the back of his neck. "Shouldn't he audition for the solo dance? He seems good enough to win the whole thing even without a fully choreographed dance. It was amazing back there."

Morgiana crossed her arms. "That wasn't really dancing. That kind of dancing is meant to draw attention to his attributes that many girls would kill to have. It's seducing the audience, and it's disgusting."

Aladdin shook his head. "Judar's always danced like that. That's just how it is. He's over-sexual I guess, but that's not a bad thing." he turned around, going up the stairs backwards so he could talk to Alibaba and Morgiana face-to-face. "And to answer your question, Alibaba, he says he's more comfortable with a partner, and only with one he knows well. He's known Hakuryuu for years, and the two work well together."

"As long as they don't have sex on the stage, I'm sure they do."

Alibaba turned red at that. "Now that is _definitely_ not allowed." he laughed it off.

Aladdin turned back around as they reached their floor. "It's only me and him that are dancers though, our other siblings aren't really into it I guess."

They opened the door to the room and the tension from that was completely gone. "Alright, Alibaba!" Aladdin announced. "It's your turn to dance now!"

Alibaba nodded, handing his phone to Morgiana and walking to the center of the room. "Royalty, Conor Maynard, if you please." he requested.

Morgiana gave a nod of affirmation and pressed play. This song started off with lyrics, so Alibaba had to start getting into the swing of things right away. Like Morgiana, Alibaba tended to take up a lot of space, it was an expert at timing his movements, edging the audience on just to enchant them with his movement. It was the way he danced, moving along with practised perfection, going from quick movements to taking his sweet time with a roll of his body, all going along with the music.

Something he tended to do, a habit he hadn't been able to break, was bounce. But only near the end of the song. Once this one hit the halfway point was when the bouncing started for Alibaba. His movements took on a life that wouldn't have been there originally, it was a sure sign he was enjoying himself. He could never start with them, and even when the ending hit and he was hopping up and down with feet movements that he picked up from Morgiana, his shoulders still held the bounce that couldn't be contained.

He ended the dance with a pose that looked cocky, just like he had been in an actual throne room and was presenting himself as the new king. Aladdin clapped loudly, and Morgiana smiled at him. "That was fantastic as always, Alibaba," she remarked.

"You think?" Alibaba asked, walking over and grabbing his bag, taking out his water bottle and taking a long drink. His stamina wasn't great, and he usually couldn't do very long songs without breathers in between practice time.

Aladdin nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Absolutely amazing!" he said. "Is that what you're gonna perform for the auditions?"

Alibaba shrugged. "Probably not. I love the song, but I don't think the dance is performance material. I'll find a song that works."

Morgiana pulled her laptop out of her bag and set it up on the floor. "We should start finding songs that we want to perform because the auditions will be here before we know it."

"Right as always, Morg!" Aladdin said, plopping himself down next to her.

Alibaba crouched down and looked at the screen as Morgiana scrolled through hundreds of song options. He had a good feeling about this year.

**_____________________________________________________________________**

Two weeks have passed, only two more until the auditions for regionals.

It was raining, Alibaba was running down the stairs. Morgiana and Aladdin weren't joining him this time.

If he was going to be completely honest, he loved his friends, but sometimes he needed to practice by himself, record himself and fix any little things he found when watching back. So he chose today to do it. Luckily, he was really making some good progress.

He stepped into the lobby and saw someone very unlikely. Judar, talking to someone behind the desk. Alibaba froze, as he wasn't sure whether to move forward or go backwards, terrified as to what to do.

Unfortunately, Judar noticed him. His face lit up and he slammed his hand on the front desk. "Alibubu!" he shouted.

Alibaba blinked. Did this guy... just call him Alibubu? "Um... hi?" he said. "That's not my name."

He slowly started walking towards him. Crap, this was going to be fucking awkward, wasn't it? Judar made a face. "Well, it's something along those lines, right? What is it?"

"Alibaba."

"Ah, there we go. I ain't great with names."

"Clearly."

The person behind the desk shifted his eyes between them. "Judar, do you know this guy?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's one of my brother's friends," Judar explained.

"Ah, in that case." he guy stood up and bowed. "Hello, my name is Ja'far. It's very nice to meet you."

"Um, hello. I'm Alibaba." Alibaba replied, nodding. "Are you the owner?"

Judar snorted, which then morphed into a loud laugh. "Nah, he's just fucking the owner," he commented.

Ja'far hit him on the head. "I'm very much not." he huffed. "The owner is my very good friend, Sinbad. You'll probably meet him eventually."

"Ah, cool."

Yeah, this was awkward already.

Ja'far turned to Judar. "Shouldn't you get going?" he asked.

"Wanna talk to Sinbad about something," Judar replied, not even look Ja'far in the eye. "It's about regions."

Ja'far nodded. "Right, I should probably go get him."

And then he left, leaving Alibaba with Judar. There were a few seconds of silence, and Alibaba had no idea how to feel. On one hand, he could start a conversation with him, but then again he should be heading home. Oh God, he was probably overthinking this already.

"How's Aladdin?" Judar asked out of the blue, turning his body to lean back against the counter. "You're his friend, right?"

Alibaba swallowed, okay, so they were going to make conversation. "He's okay, at least as far as I know. He's happy when he's around us at least," he replied. "Is he... any different around the house? I know you guys all live together still."

Judar scoffed. "I mean, yeah technically. But it's not like Yunan stays longer than a month at a time," he grumbled.

Alibaba raised an eyebrow. "Yunan? Is that yours and Aladdin's older brother?" he asked.

"Yeah, good job Sherlock." Judar waved him off. "Our home is fine, but I'm probably the worst of us. I don't really listen to Aladdin, which is why I'm asking about him."

"That seems kinda shallow."

Judar shot him a look. Alibaba covered his mouth with his hand. Why had he said that? It wasn't his place to say anything about their family, so why had he said that? Judar sighed loudly and dramatically, tipping his head back. "Yeah, well I'm pretty fucking rude..." he mumbled, looking Alibaba back in the eyes. "Is his dancing improving?"

Alibaba nodded, relieved that the topic had changed."Yeah... at least I think he is. We're getting ready for regions, and I think he's doing a great job."

Judar's expression softened and he looked away, crossing his arms. "I haven't seen him dance in a while if I'm being honest," he admitted.

"You should." Alibaba blurted out. "He's really good, and... it's important to him." he trailed off.

"Yeah, I know..."

More silence. Alibaba cleared his throat. "Um, why don't you solo dance for competitions?"

Judar didn't answer for a second, and Alibaba was afraid he wasn't even going to. Until his shoulders relaxed and he let out a soft sigh. "It's gonna sound stupid... but I just can't," he replied, voice soft.

"Stagefright?"

"No, it's not that. It's more... fuck, I don't know how to explain it." Judar cursed, raking a hand through his hair. "Solo dancing just makes me uncomfortable, okay? Did Aladdin tell you that I had stage fright?"

Alibaba shook his head. "I just... we saw you dancing, and I thought you were really good."

Judar looked a little surprised. "Oh, um... thanks, I guess? I thought you thought my dancing was 'inappropriate'?" he made air quotes for that last word.

"Morgiana did, but I thought it was really good, I wish I had to confidence to learn that kind of dancing."

Judar offered him a little smile, and he looked... really cute actually. Alibaba smiled back at him. 

Ja'far walked back into the room. "Judar, Sinbad's ready to see you."

"Right, coming."

Judar looked back at Alibaba. "See ya around, Alibubu."

"Okay, now you're just being mean."

"Like I said, I'm pretty fucking rude."

Alibaba laughed and Judar left the room with Ja'far, giving Alibaba one more little wave before disappearing. 

The drive to Alibaba's house was actually pretty calm despite the pouring rain. Alibaba was actually in a pretty good mood, he wasn't particularly an extroverted person, nor was he pretty introverted, but having that conversation with Judar made him feel very warm. But they probably weren't going to get to know each other very well with regions coming up soon. And they were competing in completely different events.

Alibaba took a quick shower and when he came out, his phone was going off. He picked it up and answered it. "Evening, Morgiana. What can I do ya for?" he asked.

"I just wanted to let you know, I'm not going to be at practice tomorrow, I have a friend who needs some help moving into her new apartment and asked me to help," she spoke.

"Ah, makes sense, you are very strong," Alibaba replied, pulling a nightshirt over his head.

"Thank you. Speaking of which, how's your dad doing?"

Alibaba swallowed. "Still in the hospital, but doing fairly well, at least from what the doctors have told me," he told her. "I'm hoping he makes a speedy recovery, but his condition could change."

His dad was currently really sick at the hospital, with some kind of cancer and another disease that the doctors were having a hard time figuring out what exactly it was. He could very well die at any second, but the hope was he would be able to recover by the end of the year. Alibaba was worried sick about him and dancing was keeping him distracted.

"Both me and Aladdin are hoping he gets better as well."

"Thanks, Morgiana."

The two talked a little bit before Morgiana announced she had to go to bed, and they hung up.

The last two weeks were fully dedicated to dancing. Crunch period came on them, solo dances were two weeks before duo dances, so all Alibaba was able to see of Judar were a few glances. At the moment, he couldn't afford any kind of distraction, and he had a feeling Judar would very much distract him.

Finally, _finally_ , the day came when the solo dance auditions were upon them. Alibaba was so excited, ecstatic even. He wasn't dressed up, just in something that was comfortable and fairly nice looking. He was so ready, all jittery and excited, maybe he'd be able to get that bounce in his dances today right at the start.

Just when he was about to leave the house his phone rang. He picked it up, not recognizing the number at first. "Hello?" he asked.

"Is this Alibaba Saluja?" a man from the other line said.

"Uh-huh, that's me."

"We need you to come to the hospital right now."

"What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archive, please make a better system for saving because I lost over 1000 words of progress by accident and it got me really stressed out. Please and thank you.
> 
> This will most likely be the shortest of the chapters I have written, things will get longer as we progress.
> 
> Um, thank you for making it this far? Not sure if I want to have a consistent update schedule yet... we shall see :)


	2. If I Had You/The Greatest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgiana hung up, not wanting to but she knew that Alibaba wanted her to still dance even when he couldn't. She pocketed her phone and walked back into the room. Aladdin looked up when he saw her and ran up to her. "Is Alibaba okay?" he asked.
> 
> "Yeah, he's just fine," she replied, then frowned. "But he's not going to be able to make it to the auditions."
> 
> Aladdin's face fell. "W-What?" he asked.
> 
> "He won't be here, but he wants us to dance for him, you think you can do that?"
> 
> Aladdin pouted, but he nodded. "Yup! As long as Alibaba is okay that's fine! I'm sure he'll be able to dance at regions still!"
> 
> Morgiana nodded. "Here's to hoping."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They live in Chicago btw. I don't live there so I don't know very much about the city and stuff like that in general, but I will try my best :)

Aladdin was pacing. Alibaba was nowhere to be seen, he hadn't shown up and auditions were going to start soon.

"Aladdin, calm down, I'm sure he's fine," Morgiana assured him.

But she was stressed as well. Alibaba absolutely _had_ to show up, this was so important to him. He had worked harder than any of them, and to just skip it was completely out of character for him.

Aladdin let out a silent scream. "But what if he got into an accident before coming here?! What if he's dead in a ditch somewhere?! What if... what if..." he started looking like he was going to hyperventilate.

Morgiana put both of her hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down. "He will be here," she assured, even though she wasn't certain herself.

Aladdin swallowed, mumbling something in Arabic, then taking a few deep breaths. "Okay... okay..." he whispered. "Okay, I'm calm."

Morgiana smiled. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out. "It's Alibaba!" she exclaimed. She knew it! She knew he would make it! He was just running late is all.

She pressed accept on the phone and put it up to her ear, her smile quickly morphing into a frown, then into a completely shocked and worried expression. "What is it?" Aladdin asked. "What's wrong?"

Morgiana swallowed. "Alibaba?" she asked quietly.

Alibaba was _crying._ He was sobbing on the other line, words not even coming out. "M-Morgiana... I-I..." he could barely speak. "I-I wanted to... to tell you that..."

"Alibaba, take your time..." she assured him.

She looked over at Aladdin. "I'm going to go out in the hall and talk with Alibaba," she told him, holding the phone away from her.

"Is he okay?" Aladdin asked, voice trembling. It was clear he was worried for his friend, eyebrows knit up, bottom lip caught between his teeth.

Morgiana nodded. "I think so, I just need a second, okay?" she told him, walking out.

She reached the hallway, which was much calmer than the stuffy room where all the people who were here for the auditions were. She leaned against the wall and took a breath. "Okay, Alibaba, do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked.

Alibaba gulped. "I-I'm sitting in the bathroom... Morgiana... I-I can't come..." he hiccuped, clearly choking on his own tears. "I-I just can't... I-I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay, Alibaba. Is everything alright?"

"N-No... the hospital called me... th-they told me that my dad... his condition worsened o-overnight and they wanted me to c-come over..." Alibaba had to stop to take a few breaths, voice cracking. He sounded so broken. "H-H-He's gone... Morgiana... my dad is dead..."

Morgiana was stunned. So that's why...

Alibaba let out a scream, Morgiana flinched from the sound coming over the phone. "I-I wasn't even fucking there for him!" Alibaba sobbed. "I wasn't even fucking there..." his voice quieted down.

"Alibaba... I'm so sorry..." Morgiana whispered. "Are you at the hospital now?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Okay, it's okay, you don't have to come. We can figure something out. Do you need me and Aladdin to come over?"

"No! No don't come! Don't tell Aladdin what happened!"

Morgiana blinked. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Mhm... Aladdin... he's gonna want to make sure I'm okay... and I want you two... I want you two to audition. You guys have worked s-so hard... don't throw that away for me... please." Alibaba replied.

So selfless. Morgiana bit her lip. "Okay, thank you for letting me know. I'll come over later, okay?"

"O-Okay..."

"It's going to be just fine, you're going to get through this," she spoke. "I promise, we'll find a way to get you to audition, okay?"

"Okay..."

"I'm going to hang up now, please just... take care of yourself, alright?"

"Yeah... th-thank you Morgiana."

"You're welcome. I love you, you know that right? Aladdin and I love you so much, and we're here to support you."

"I love you guys too. Th-thank you... so much..."

Morgiana hung up, not wanting to but she knew that Alibaba wanted her to still dance even when he couldn't. She pocketed her phone and walked back into the room. Aladdin looked up when he saw her and ran up to her. "Is Alibaba okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's just fine," she replied, then frowned. "But he's not going to be able to make it to the auditions."

Aladdin's face fell. "What?!" he asked.

"He won't be here, but he wants us to dance for him, you think you can do that?"

Aladdin pouted, but he nodded. "Yup! As long as Alibaba is okay that's fine! I'm sure he'll be able to dance at regions still!"

Morgiana nodded. "Here's to hoping."

Meanwhile, Alibaba was making his way home, trying very hard not to cry on the drive. He was feeling very stressed and overwhelmed... and incredibly sad. His dad was dead, that left him without parents. His mom died years ago, when he was twelve, and her death still stung. Now it was like someone had reopened a wound, and it _hurt_. So much. 

Alibaba pulled into the driveway and just... sat there. He didn't go in, he didn't even open the garage door. He hit his head against the wheel and started crying again. All of this was so much, he didn't think he could handle it. It had hit him like a bus just seeing his dad lay there, heartbeat gone still, face pale and eyes wide open like he had been trying to see through the ceiling. He didn't even know how to process it at first. 

He didn't move for twenty minutes. He had to take so many deep breaths to even calm down enough to convince himself to move. He unbuckled his seatbelt with shaky hands and went into his empty house. He had been the only one living in it for a while, but now it felt extra empty. His dad's death meant his estate and money was probably all going to him, but Alibaba couldn't even think about that right now. So many things were going through his head, he had already been stressed from hospital bills, but now funeral arrangements and working out things with his father's death in general was going to completely wreck his mental health.

Alibaba went to his room and laid down on the bed, pulling the covers over his head and wanting to block out the world entirely. One thing entered his head. _Dancing_.

He had missed the auditions. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he needed the time to collect himself. There was always next year, right?

But then again... dancing was the thing that distracted him from all of this, maybe he needed to go back to that.

He probably drifted off, consumed by the spell that was sleep at one point, but time lost meaning until someone knocked on the door. He didn't want to answer it, but his phone buzzed with confirmation that it was Morgiana and Aladdin and he typed to them that the door was unlocked.

Pretty much two seconds later Aladdin jumped on him, hugging onto him tightly. Alibaba was completely shocked out of his depression. "Ohmygod Alibaba! Morgiana told me what happened after the auditions and I am so so sorry that you have to go through that I can't even imagine what that would be like Ireallyhopeyou'refeelingbetterifnotwewentbythestoreandgotyousomeicecreamyoulikeicecreamright?" Aladdin spoke so fast Alibaba had to take a second to process what he was saying.

"Aladdin, I'm fine, I promise," Alibaba said, hugging his friend back.

Aladdin frowned. "You don't look fine," he remarked. "I know you're really sad, and you don't have to talk about it, but will you please eat ice cream with us? It might make you feel better!"

Morgiana stood at the doorway with a plastic bag in hand, a little bit timid, as she wasn't entirely sure how to approach Alibaba. He smiled at her and gestured for her to come in. She sat down on the bed, pulling out the ice cream. "I know it's probably not enough to heal the ache, but we at least wanted to do something to help."

Alibaba nodded, taking the cookie dough ice cream and spoon that Morgiana handed him. "Thank you, guys... seriously I don't deserve you," he said, poking at the ice cream.

Aladdin had already gotten the majority of his ice cream all over his face and Morgiana held her spoon in her mouth. "I get that you don't really want to talk about it... but with the auditions being over-" Morgiana started.

"How did that go, by the way?" Alibaba asked. "Did you guys do good?"

Aladdin's face lit up. "Yeah! Morg was beautiful as always, and everyone really liked her fancy footwork! I think I did okay, some of the judges gave me a few weird looks, though."

Morgiana shrugged. "I personally think Aladdin did very well."

Alibaba smiled. "That's good. I'm sure both of you will make it to regions this year, you both worked really hard."

This was nice, talking about something other than the pain in his chest. He grief he felt, he knew it wasn't going away fro a while, but at least he could dull it for the moment.

They ended up talking for another hour or so, when all the ice cream had been eaten. Aladdin and Morgiana offered to stay the night, but Alibaba refused, agreeing to meet them at the studio tomorrow so they could find their region songs. Before they headed out the door Morgiana stopped him. "We're going to find a way to get you to regions, okay?" she promised.

Alibaba smiled. "It's okay if we don't-"

"This is important to you too." Morgiana interrupted him. "We will find a way."

Alibaba sighed. "Okay, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me."

Morgiana locked him in a hug. "And I am so sorry you are going through this, you don't deserve it."

Alibaba hugged her back, not saying anything else. She said her last goodbyes and headed out, needing to drop Aladdin at home before herself. Alibaba watched as they drove away, standing in the doorway of his house until they disappeared from his sight.

Could they really find him a way to get to regions?

**_________________________________________________________________________**

"Mr Sinbad, please!" Aladdin pleaded. "Aren't you one of the examiners for regions? You have to let Alibaba audition!"

The trio were in Sinbad's office, Morgiana and Aladdin had grabbed Alibaba the very next day and marched him right into there, much against his own will, practically begging Sinbad to allow him to audition. In reality, he was actually really awkward about the whole thing. Yes, he wasn't to dance, but he also knew there was no way he was going to make it to regions this year.

Sinbad just shook his head. "I'm really sorry, but if he missed auditions there isn't anything that I'm able to do," he explained, standing up. "Unfortunately, I don't have a say on who auditions and who doesn't. Most of the other examiners would say it was unfair that Alibaba was able to audition after everyone else."

Alibaba smiled sadly at the floor. "Just like I thought. It's okay, I-"

"Are you serious?!" Aladdin shouted. "Alibaba didn't miss the auditions because of some dumb reason like he needed an extra practice day! He had a serious family problem that-"

"Aladdin," Morgiana warned. She looked up at Sinbad. "We understand, are you sure there isn't anything you are able to do?"

Sinbad rubbed his chin. "No, I don't think so. Unless..." he hummed. "Well, the duo auditions are in two weeks. If you two have already auditioned for the solo dances then you won't be able to partner up with him, however, if he can find a partner and somehow choreograph and learn a dance in under two weeks, then maybe he would be able to go to regions. But that's going to be an incredible feat."

Aladdin and Morgiana looked at each other. Alibaba flipped his hood up and wanted to die. He could already see them plotting. Aladdin smiled. "So he just has to find a dancing partner?" he asked.

Sinbad raised an eyebrow. "You seem incredibly confident in your friend's abilities," he remarked.

Morgiana crossed her arms, mirroring Aladdin's smile. "You underestimate Alibaba. He's a lot better than you think."

Alibaba let out an awkward laugh. "Morgiana, Aladdin... thank you but-"

"Nope!" Aladdin lifted a finger to silence Alibaba. "No time to be humble! We just have to find someone to dance with you!"

Just at that moment, the door slammed open, as though someone had kicked it, and Alibaba saw a very familiar head of dark hair burst in. "You won't believe what the _fuck_ just happened!" he yelled, slamming his hands down on the desk, startling Sinbad. "Hakuryuu's in the hospital! The guy fucking broke his leg!"

Immediately that triggered flashbacks in Alibaba. His chest tightened and his tongue felt abnormally dry. He swallowed the feeling down, he was not going to cry here.

Judar seemed incredibly distressed, gritting his teeth and grabbing the sides of the table so hard his knuckles turned white. Sinbad calmly looked him up and down. "What happened?" he asked.

"Oh nothing much, just his bitch-ass mom _pushed him down the fucking stairs_!" Judar shouted, reaching up and clawing at his hair. "I mean, yes they finally got the restraining order, but he's stuck in the hospital with a broken leg and can't dance!"

Alibaba's heart dropped, so Judar was in the same situation he was in, huh? Part of him was relieved that he didn't have to share this burden alone, but another part of him felt so bad. He wasn't even that close to Judar, they had really only met a little while ago, and he couldn't help but feel bad.

Sinbad leaned back in his chair. "Did you and Hakuryuu have the dance choreographed already?" he asked.

"Duh!"

"Do you have a recording of it?"

Judar snorted, crossing his arms. "What do you take me for, some amateur?" he asked. " _Yes_ , we have a recording of us dancing."

Sinbad stood up and smiled at Alibaba. "Then I might have a solution to both of your problems."

Alibaba felt his throat close up. Aladdin looked between Judar and Alibaba, jaw dropped. Morgiana cast a disapproving look their way.

And then there was Judar. He raised his eyebrows, the look of complete surprise was there, like he didn't even realize they were in the room at all. Alibaba whimpered. "It's... It's been a while since I've danced with a partner if I'm being honest..." he admitted. "But I think I might be able to do it."

Sinbad clapped his hands together, walking around his desk to shove Judar closer to Alibaba. "Excellent, if both of you want to go to regions, then this is your way of doing it. Judar, I'll need you to teach the dance you and Hakuryuu were doing, and I'm sure Alibaba will be able to learn it in time."

"Woah Woah Woah!" Judar shouted, stepping out of Sinbad's hold. "I barely know the guy and now you're expecting me to dance with him?!"

Alibaba felt his heart shatter. Maybe this was his only chance to get to regions, and like hell if he wasn't going to take it, but if Judar wasn't down with it...

"Judar, this may be the only chance you're going to get to participate in regions," Sinbad told him. "Don't you still want to dance?"

Judar huffed, looking away. "I thought you were gonna do solo dance. What happened? You chicken out?"

Morgiana snarled. "Take that back!" she shouted. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"That's really insensitive, Judar!" Aladdin shouted next.

Alibaba wasn't entirely sure how to react to that, he assumed all his emotions were kind of delayed at the moment. He swallowed and forced a smile. "It's not like that, I just was having a hard time with a lot of family stuff and wasn't able to make it."

Judar side-eyed him, expression softening if even just a little. "Family stuff?" he repeated.

Alibaba nodded once. "Yeah. So if you don't want to dance with me that's fine. There is always next year, right?"

There was a bit of silence, everyone was waiting for what Judar was going to say. Morgiana bit her lip, Alibaba assumed she was hoping Judar would refuse. She didn't like the kind of dancing he did, and she probably was thinking he would turn Alibaba into some kind of stripper just by dancing with him. Alibaba poked her in the arm, a friendly touch to let her know that he was still here. She dropped the scowl and sighed.

Judar let out a loud groan. "Fine, I'll do it!" he announced. "I'll dance with him."

**_________________________________________________________________________**

Well, out of the many things that Alibaba was going to learn about Judar today, one was that he was incredibly flexible.

Alibaba stared in complete awe as Judar seemed to have folded in half, having bent backwards and poked his head through his legs, resting his chin on his folded arms on the floor. "What?" he asked.

"Uh, nothing... you're just... really flexible," Alibaba commented.

Judar smiled, lifting his feet up and slowly letting them fall down before lifting himself up. "I'll take that as a compliment." he laughed.

"It was meant to be taken as one," Alibaba remarked. "You're seriously incredible."

Judar moved again so he was sitting with his legs crossed. "You done stretching?" he asked.

Alibaba nodded. Judar stood up and walked over to grab his phone. It was weird, working with Judar. But Alibaba didn't mind it all that much. The man continued to wear crop tops, this time a hooded one with a printed genie's lamp on it. Where all of Aladdin's siblings as crazy about that Disney movie as he was?

"Anyways, this is the dance we have choreographed, I'll teach it to you step-by-step, but as you probably know, it's not going to look exactly like this when it's done," Judar explained, pulling up the video.

Of course, any dancer would know that. Dancing was an art form for a reason, every dancer had their own style, and even when working with others that style will always shine through. The most skilled dancers knew how to use that to their advantage, knew how to combine their styles to make something incredible and new. Alibaba could only wish he was one of those kinds of dancers.

The video started and Alibaba leaned over to watch it. It bothered him slightly that they were so close, but he shrugged it off, no time to get flustered by being near a hot guy right now.

However, the second the song started, Alibaba started getting _incredibly_ uncomfortable.

The upbeat lyrics of Rihanna's Disturbia filled his ears, but all he could focus on was the dance playing in front of his eyes. Judar and Hakuryuu's styles seemed very similar, because the dance involved a lot of hip movements and seductive pelvic thrusts. The only problem was... the _intimacy_. The two were keeping eye contact almost the entire time, even when they were basically grinding against each other. There was a lot of _touching_ , and while the deepest crevice of Alibaba was thrilled by the fact that he could be that close to Judar, every other part of him was screaming.

He glanced a look at Judar, who was watching with a completely straight face, what the hell was with this guy?

Alibaba swallowed hard, trying to focus on Hakuryuu's movements, the part he was expected to play. The second half of the song was a bit less touchy-feely, was more focusing on their individual dancing styles. Hakuryuu had a kind of frigid movement kind of thing going on, which wasn't a bad thing, because he would completely melt at parts, definitely using everything he had to his advantage. At parts, Alibaba was certain he could match it. But then came the body rolls that made him want to jump off a bridge.

The dance finally ended and Judar threw his phone to the side. "Okay, so we should probably start-"

"Can you give me a minute, please?" Alibaba said, stepping away from Judar. "You... expect me to dance that?"

Judar blinked at him. "What's wrong with it?" he asked. "You wanted to go to regions, this is how!"

"Yes, I know! But is there a different song we can dance to?"

Judar crossed his arms. "Why do you have such a problem with this?"

Alibaba tensed up, looking away. "It's just... the dance seems really..." he couldn't form the words.

Judar facepalmed. "Stripper-like?" he filled it in. "Yeah, I get it, it's a sexy dance, but that's because that's all you're seeing."

"What?"

Judar took out his phone again and handed it to Alibaba. "Put on a song, anyone you like. I have a solo dance to everything in that playlist," he explained. "And I don't want you to watch my hips, watch my entire body. Watch how I move."

He stepped backward into the center of the room. "After this, I'll expect to see a dance from you, I'll record it and watch it with Hakuryuu. He's a better choreographer than I am. He'll figure out how to adjust the dance to make it easier for both of us. Sound good?"

Alibaba nodded once. "Yeah... okay..."

He scrolled through the different song, trying to find a fairly innocent one. He eventually found what he was pretty sure would be a decent song and pressed play. Judar smiled and closed his eyes. "Oh, this is gonna be good..." he spoke to himself.

To be honest, Alibaba hadn't heard this song before. If I Had You by Adam Lambert... it couldn't be that bad, could it?

Judar kicked off into a dance that was completely unexpected. Like Judar had requested, Alibaba watched him intently. It wasn't a song Alibaba inherently thought would be something to dance to, however with the way Judar was moving to it was... enchanting.

Alibaba already knew he was good, but here it was like he was getting a private performance all for himself. The more he watched Judar move around, strutting, sliding, spinning, jumping... the more he really understood. Judar wasn't just good at the sexy dances, what he was good at was using his body in a way that fits with the song, and it was amazing.

Just watching him made his heart race. Alibaba swallowed when Judar started rolling his body, taking the time to look him in the eyes and wink. Now that was just unfair. 

The song ended way too early and Judar stopped, wiping his sweaty mouth with his sleeve. "Do you get it now?"

"I... think so," Alibaba replied.

"Alright, then it's your turn."

Alibaba gulped, walking to his place. Judar grabbed his phone and played the song Alibaba had lined up. Alibaba was almost certain that Judar would think this was stupid, but it was his favourite to dance to by far. The Greatest, Sia's song.

It started out kind of quiet, Alibaba just tapping his foot alone, then moving his arms around himself, closing his eyes and practically losing himself to the music. He had done this hundreds, thousands of times maybe. He knew it by heart.

The chorus picked up and Alibaba started really moving his feet. It didn't concern him that he was being recorded, all he could think about was his movements as he started spinning around as fast as he could, almost laughing when he stopped, moving right into more quick foot dances. He felt his breathing pick up, giggling internally at the irony of the song, he definitely didn't have the stamina for a dance this quick, but yet he still continued to push himself and dance it whenever he was feeling like it.

The song ended and Alibaba almost wanted to collapse. That song took a lot out of him every time, and although he loved it, he knew he could never perform it competitively. He looked over at Judar, who was staring at him with an almost shocked expression, mouth open slightly, eyes widened a fraction, phone frozen in his hand from recording. Alibaba smirked. "Better than you thought, huh?"

Judar quickly recovered and coughed. "Yeah, it was okay," he said, avoiding eye contact with him.

Alibaba laughed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were allergic to giving others compliments."

Judar glared at him. "Not my speciality," he grumbled.

Alibaba only smiled, walking over to take his phone. "We still have 45 minutes to use the room, what do you wanna do?" he asked.

Judar set his phone down and crossed his arms. "Ain't it obvious? Compatibility shit."

"Excuse me?"

"Like... getting to know each other and whateva the fuck. I don't like dancing with strangers, if you couldn't tell." Judar explained. "We don't have to be best friends, but I'm not dancing with someone I barely know. It'll make it less awkward for both of us."

Alibaba blinked. "That... makes a lot of sense, actually."

Judar slid down the mirror and sat with his legs crossed. Alibaba folded his legs under him and, not knowing with to do with his arms, crossed them. Judar leaned his head against the mirror. "I'm gonna ask you a question, and then you ask me one, we'll go back and forth until our hour is up, sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Alibaba agreed.

"Okay, starting off with..." he made a show of looking like he was thinking really hard. "Why did you miss the solo dance auditions?"

Alibaba felt everything crush. He swallowed hard, feeling his head pound. He weighed his options, what would Judar say if he really told him what happened? What if he lied and Judar could tell? God... why was he like this?!

"I... um... my dad died..." Alibaba said in a small voice, looking down at his lap. "And... I wasn't prepared e-emotionally to dance."

Silence, Alibaba thought that Judar was going to pity him, which he _really_ didn't need right now. But...

"Oh, I get it. That's... understandable." Judar finally spoke. "I hope you're doing okay."

Alibaba's head shot up. He wasn't expecting the look on Judar's face. It was one of... complete empathy. He _did_ understand. Alibaba clenched his fists. Right, Aladdin had told him that their parents were killed when they were all really young. Only their oldest sister really remembered them, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt all of them.

"Yeah... um... moving on." Alibaba tried to change the subject, covering his mouth with his hand. "Um... what's... your favourite food?"

His voice definitely cracked. Judar laughed. "Wow, you're really lame, huh?" he asked through chuckles. "If you must know, it's peaches."

Alibaba raised an eyebrow. "Really? And you call me lame."

"Oh shut up, peaches are the food of _gods_." Judar poked him. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Favorite food, go."

"Um... pizza."

Silence, at first, Alibaba thought he said something wrong. Then Judar made a face. "I've never had it before."

Alibaba's jaw dropped. "What, are you serious?! How do you live in Chicago and _haven't_ had _pizza_ before?!" he asked.

Judar blushed and looked away. "Don't look at me like that. I'm lactose intolerant anyway." he huffed. "Plus, it's not like we eat a bunch of American food like a bunch of peasants. We usually just make some vaguely Arabian when we have the food for it. Sometimes Yunan brings food from the other countries he visits, but then again that only a couple of months from each other."

"Okay, I am making this pact now, you are going to come with us to get pizza sometime. They sell lactose-free pizza, y'know. We'll just get you some of that!"

Judar looked back at him. "Why?" he asked. "We don't really need to hang out outside of dance. I just said we don't have to be friends."

Alibaba cocked his head, furrowing his brows. "Well, that's too bad. I want to be your friend. You're Aladdin's brother, and you're genuinely a cool person. So, that means pizza!"

Judar let out a snort, covering his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter. "Have you been taking Aladdin out to eat American food? He's gluten-free, so that would explain the amount of times he's come how with a bad stomach ache. You fucking son of a bitch."

Alibaba laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, it's not my fault, he always wants to eat anything and everything."

"That sounds like Aladdin."

Talking with Judar turned out to be really nice, therapeutic even. They could make conversation really easily, and it was nice to feel happy for once. They were still talking as they walked down the stairs to head home. Alibaba wasn't paying attention and barely caught Aladdin when he jumped on him. "Alibaba! Hi!" Aladdin yelled.

Alibaba smiled. He knew Aladdin was a super touchy person and he loved hugs. He looked over and saw Morgiana standing, probably from waiting with Aladdin for him to come down with Judar. He looked over at the man in question and blinked in surprise.

Judar looked... kind of upset. Like he was annoyed that Aladdin had jumped on Alibaba instead of him. Alibaba set Aladdin down and took a step back. "Hey, do you wanna go to a pizza place today? My treat," he asked, pointing at Judar. "This bastard hasn't had pizza before."

Aladdin gasped, jumping up and down. "Of course! I'm always down for pizza!" he exclaimed.

Morgiana raised an eyebrow. "Pizza? I mean... I guess I'm okay with that." she said, rubbing her arm. 

Alibaba smiled. "Let's go then!"

**_________________________________________________________________________**

The pizza place they had chosen to go to was a favourite of the three, Judar tagging along. Alibaba drove with Morgiana and Aladdin with Judar. They arrived at the place within minutes of each other.

Aladdin was the first one to walk in, immediately talking to the waiters and getting them a table. Judar seemed a little awkward but that was okay.

"Oi, Aladdin. Can you text Scheherazade and let her know we're gonna be home late?" Judar asked.

With the way they were seated, Morgiana and Aladdin were sitting together, and Alibaba and Judar were together, Aladdin across from Judar and Morgiana across from Alibaba.

Aladdin cocked his head. "Uh, I don't have my phone," he admitted.

Judar made a face. "Ugh, fine." he slumped down in his seat. "This pizza stuff better be good..." he mumbled.

Alibaba laughed. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that," he told him.

Truth be told, being close to Judar like this was nice. It wasn't like a date, and he shouldn't think of it as one! Because it wasn't. Alibaba couldn't afford a crush, not even a crush, this was just a small infatuation because he'll be damned if he lets it get that far.

"Hello there!" a cheery waitress with a hijab and a very pretty face came over. "My name is Anne, I'll be your waitress for tonight. Can I get you all started with something to drink?"

Judar slumped even further down in his seat. Alibaba assumed he was generally just awkward around newer people, he had mentioned he hated strangers before. But soon enough they had three different pizzas in front of them. One small gluten-free, one small lactose-free, and one normal pepperoni for Morgiana and Alibaba. Aladdin, as per usual, dug right into the pizza. Judar, however, looked at it questionably. "You guys have some funky looking food here..." he noted.

Alibaba already had a slice in his mouth, but he gave Judar a look. "Don't act like you just came over to America," he spoke, voice slightly muffled. He swallowed his slice. "What, are you gonna say you don't understand why Arkansas is pronounced Ark-an-saw?"

Both Judar and Aladdin gave him blank looks. Alibaba blinked. "Oh shit, seriously?"

Morgiana burst out laughing. "Do you guys not get out very much?" she asked.

Judar shrugged. "Not really. It's been a while since I've been out of the house for something other than dance practice. No reason for me to go out other than run a few errands." he replied.

"I get out, but not very often. Most of the time it's with you two." Aladdin laughed awkwardly. "That's probably not normal, is it?"

Alibaba shrugged, already reaching for another piece. "I guess it's fine. I mean it makes sense if you're agoraphobic or something. Not really my place to tell you how to live your life." he said. "You haven't touched your pizza," he noted to Judar, pointing to the lactose-free pizza.

Judar cringed, but then reached over and took a slice. Aladdin had already finished half of his and Morgiana and Alibaba had eaten through about a third of theirs so far. Judar took a tentative bite. Aladdin drummed on the table in a makeshift drumroll. Judar swallowed. "I can certainly see why Chicago is famous for their pizza." he laughed.

The team cheered loudly. Alibaba reached over and hugged Judar around the neck. "Congratulations, welcome to America!"

"So I wasn't an American unless I tried Chicago pizza then?"

"Nope!"

"Well, I guess that the citizenship test meant absolutely nothing then."

"Yup, pretty much!" 

"I swear to god..."

Aladdin laughed along with them. "Is it good?" he asked

Judar nodded, taking another bite, despite Alibaba's arm around his shoulders. "It's good. Usually, lactose-free cheese is gross, but this is pretty good." he looked over at Alibaba, barely an inch away. "I understand why it's your favourite. Although peaches are still better."

Alibaba smiled, ignoring the lack of space. "They can probably put peaches on pizza if you asked."

Morgiana wrinkled her nose. "Gross," she commented, sticking her tongue out. "That's worse than pineapple on pizza."

Alibaba scoffed. "How dare you insult Hawaiian pizza? You wound me."

He put the back of his hand over his forehead and fell over so he was laying in Judar's lap, imitating a damsel in distress. "Look at that, Morgiana, you've killed me. Judar, make sure they play the Pizza Hut Taco Bell song at my funeral."

Judar blinked, confused as to why he had a lapful of Alibaba. "You seem really comfortable with me already..." he remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Alibaba smiled, reaching up and pinching his cheek. "Of course, your our friend now. No take-backs." he snickered.

Aladdin smiled even wider. "Yay, now we have a group of four! This is going to be amazing!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in celebration.

Alibaba sat back up, brushing himself off dramatically. "Now, Morgiana, take back what you said about Hawaiian pizza."

"Never." Morgiana hissed, but there was no bite to it, in fact, she was smiling.

The rest of the night was incredible, and Alibaba can't remember the last time he had this much fun. He felt like everything was back to normal, but now with the addition of Judar. It was really nice to be around everyone like this, without having to worry about everything else on his plate at the moment. He knew eventually, it would end, but for now, he lost himself to the high known as happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, for the life of me, cannot remember what the female Magi character's name is ;p;
> 
> I know for a fact that she exists, but do I remember? No, of course not. Help
> 
> UPDATE: I figured out what it was but I misspelt it HORRIBLY and my beta was laughing at me for five minutes -.-
> 
> Not to mention this might be the longest chapter for a while, which was a complete accident on my part because my writing process is far from perfect. Hoping that won't obstruct that story in the future but idk for now.


	3. Payphone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, fuck, he was probably super uncomfortable with this. Judar drew his mouth into a line. He could only hope they could relax enough before the auditions. Hakuryuu corrected a few things about their position. "And Judar, you need to chill too. I know it's not me but I need you to get your sparkle back." Hakuryuu commented.
> 
> Judar scoffed. " _Tozz feek,_ " he growled. 
> 
> Hakuryuu snorted. "You're hilarious."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll be able to tell which is which, but there will be parts which are from Judar's point of view and parts from Alibaba's point of view. Mostly Alibaba tho :p
> 
> ALSO I JUST GOT SPOILED FOR THE MAGI MANGA AND I'M USING THIS TO COPE ;p;

"So what I'm getting at here is that he's pretty reserved, especially at the beginning, the longer the song goes on, the more he kind of relaxes. We can work with that, but he's going to have to touch you at some point, you know that?"

Judar nodded, arms crossed. "Yeah, I'm fine with that. But he gets all weird when it comes to touching and dancing super close like that. He's perfectly fine with it in any other scenario."

Hakuryuu hummed, biting his lip. Judar's friend was sitting on the ground, broken leg out while the other was bent. He was reviewing the video of Alibaba's dancing while they waited for the blonde to get to the studio. "Is it because of the sexual nature of it?" he asked.

"Probably. Is there a way we can... work around it a bit?" Judar replied.

Hakuryuu cocked his head. "Possibly. I can probably figure out a way to incorporate Alibaba's style into the dance, paired with your style. It's gonna take some work though."

"We can do it."

"You have less than two weeks to get this down to pat, are you certain?"

Judar smirked. "Of course, trust me when I say, we can do it," he said.

Hakuryuu nodded, looking back at the video.

The door opened and walked in Alibaba, eyes looked red and puffy. "Hey, sorry I'm late, was having trouble working out some stuff with my dad's will," he said.

Judar felt his chest tighten. Alibaba had probably been crying, he hated that. He understood that the man needed to cry a bit, but for whatever reason, he absolutely hated seeing him upset. Luckily Alibaba seemed composed enough to dance. Judar helped Hakuryuu stand up and the other hobbled over to Alibaba. "Hi, nice to meet you again, I'm Hakuryuu."

"Alibaba. Nice to meet you, too." Alibaba replied, nodding.

Hakuryuu hopped back over to Judar and stood next to him. "We've been reviewing your dancing, and I have a couple of ideas for the routine. It's going to change drastically, but not enough so it's completely different, of course. However, it will make the dance a lot more comfortable for the two of you while also keeping the entire thing alive with your styles," he explained.

Alibaba nodded again. "That's good, I can follow directions. Just let me know what I need to do."

Hakuryuu had the two of them take the starting position, talking the entire time. The beginning part was being changed, mostly to focus on Judar's abilities to give Alibaba a chance to get into the swing of things, to adjust. It was going smoothly so far, Hakuryuu was explaining the steps and they were going through them without music. However, at one point they ended up pressed together, Alibaba's back against his chest, basically trapped within Judar's arms, one hand barely at his neck, almost like he was going to choke him, other held carefully at Alibaba's waist. Hakuryuu stepped back, narrowing his eyes. Judar hoped Alibaba couldn't feel his rapid heartbeat. He couldn't see the other's face but he bet it was mortified.

"Okay, Alibaba, you have the right idea, but you're tense. Just relax. Judar's going to guide you through the first part, just let him take control for now, okay?" Hakuryuu spoke.

Judar heard Alibaba let out an audible gulp. "Yeah, okay..." Alibaba replied, a hitch in his breath.

Oh, fuck, he was probably super uncomfortable with this. Judar drew his mouth into a line. He could only hope they could relax enough before the auditions. Hakuryuu corrected a few things about their position. "And Judar, you need to chill too. I know it's not me but I need you to get your sparkle back." Hakuryuu commented.

Judar scoffed. " _Tozz feek_ ," he growled. 

Hakuryuu snorted. "You're hilarious." 

They _finally_ got out of that position and moved on to working on some of the other movements. This is where it especially started to differ. Hakuryuu gave Alibaba strict instructions on certain dance parts and was even lecturing Judar at certain new points. It was interesting. Alibaba seemed to be having fun, though. He was even warming up a bit to the more suggestive touches like he was finally getting comfortable with it. Judar let out an internal sigh of relief. Thank God, the awkwardness was going to kill Judar otherwise.

Hakuryuu had them go through the whole thing, of course, there were a lot of mistakes, and those got fixed. It still wasn't perfect, but it was certainly a start.

They had paid for two hours and it was over in a flash. Judar picked up his bag and Hakuryuu's, swinging both over his shoulders. Alibaba grabbed his bag as well. "Hey, thank you for today," he said. "I had fun, I think we have a good chance of at the very least being ready for auditions."

Judar blinked at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Alibaba dropped his smile. Judar smirked. "We're gonna get to regions, and when we do, we're gonna win."

Hakuryuu sighed, walking over with the crutches under both arms. "You're awfully cocky, you know that, right?"

Judar laughed. "Yeah, but that ain't a bad thing," he replied. "I'll see ya later, Alibubu." he saluted with a wink.

"Right..." Alibaba trailed off as Judar held the door open for Hakuryuu and they walked out. 

Once they were out and walking to the elevator, Hakuryuu gave him a look. "Y'know, he's really good-looking," he commented.

"Who, blondie?" Judar asked. "Yeah, he's alright."

"And a good dancer. He might just be perfect for you."

Judar was so tempted to shove him into the elevator. "Shut up," he grumbled. "He's a friend, that's it. I can't get distracted by a dumb crush anyways."

"So you admit you have a crush on him?"

" _Kol khara!_ "

"Thought as much."

The elevator doors dinged and they walked out. Ja'far was sitting behind the desk, talking on the phone. He vaguely smiled at the two before returning to his conversation. Judar once again opened the door for Hakuryuu to step through and they came outside. Judar huffed. "I don't like him, okay?"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing."

"I _can't_ , Hakuryuu."

Hakuryuu hummed. "Yeah, I know," he replied. "You have to get over that eventually."

"And eventually, I will. But for now... I'm just going to stick in the friendzone where I belong."

Hakuryuu cracked a smile. "I don't remember you being so self-deprecating."

"I'm not." Judar wrinkled his nose. "I'm really not."

**_________________________________________________________________________**

_**Actual_Sunshine** added 3 people to a chat  
_

**Actual_Sunshine:** hey hey hey! :3  
 **PrinceAli:** hi?  
 **PrinceAli:** Aladdin wtf  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** it appears to be a group chat with four people  
 **PrinceAli:** who's the fourth person?  
 **God👑:** ah so this is why my phone is blowing up  
 **God👑:** this is my new hell  
 **PrinceAli:** who tf  
 **PrinceAli:** JUDAR?!?!  
 **God👑:** Present  
 **PrinceAli:** omg  
 **PrinceAli:** wait how the hell did you get emojis in ur nickname?  
 **God👑:** magic  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** this will be entertaining  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I just thought it would be nice to have all of us in a group chat  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** bc we're friends now :>  
 **PrinceAli:** to quote one of the most infamous but underrated vines ever:  
 **PrinceAli:** what was the reason  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** :(  
 **God👑:** goodjob, Alibubu, you made him sad  
 **PrinceAli:** ah fuck  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** GASP  
 **God👑:** LE GASP  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** :0  
 **PrinceAli:** what?  
 **God👑:** how DARE you swore in front of the chid  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** chid  
 **God👑:** stfu  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** Judar I'm nineteen  
 **God👑:** exactly  
 **God👑:** child  
 **PrinceAli:** I stg  
 **God👑:** wait Aladdin can I add one more person into the chat?  
 **God👑:** I refuse to suffer through this alone  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** sure who?  
 **God👑:** just trust me kk?  
 **Acutal_Sunshine:** Ok! :)  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** why trust him with anything?  
 **God👑:** okay, first of all, fuck you  
 **God👑:** second of all, everyone say hi to Hakuryuu  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** why  
 **PrinceAli:** :0  
 **PrinceAli:** hi Hakuryuu!  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** good afternoon, Hakuryuu  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** haiiiiiiiiii!  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** ohmygod  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** wait who even are these people?  
 **God👑:** PrinceAli: Alibaba  
 **God👑:** Actual_Sunshine: Aladdin  
 **God👑:** ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild: Morgiana  
 **God👑:** and you know my username  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** I'm already terrified  
 **PrinceAli:** be very afriad >:)  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** afriad  
 **God👑:** afriad  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** afriad  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** HA  
 **PrinceAli:** :c  
 **PrinceAli:** I'm offended  
 **God👑:** good  
 **PrinceAli:** FUCK YOU  
 **God👑:** wouldn't get a chance ;)  
 **PrinceAli:** gahvbsbhgosyrnsaqogz   
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I think you broke him  
 **God👑:** ha  
 **God👑:** s u f f e r  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** this was a bad idea  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** why am i a part of this?  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** sorry, no going back :)  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** lovely  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** there was a reason for this chat actually  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** enlighten us

_**Actual_Sunshine** sent an image_

**PrinceAli:** omg  
 **God👑:** ALADDIN WHAT THE FUCK  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** :0 !!  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I wasn't aware that you didn't just have tattoos on your eyes  
 **God👑:** FUck!!! Off!!!  
 **PrinceAli:** Sir are you using SEPHORA BRAND?  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** Hoenstly I'm not surprised  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** Jesus, fuck, I can't spell today  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I believe we've abandoned the 'do not swear in front of the child' rule  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** why am I the child????  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** also, yes that's Sephora  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** bc Judar spends wayyyy too much on makeup anyways  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** i needed to share this with the world  
 **God👑:** I'm going to murder you  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** bet  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** OH SHIT  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** GUYS HELP  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE  
 **PrinceAli:** 0_0  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Hakuryuu, what are the chances of Aladdin surviving this?  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** how tf should I know?  
 **God👑:** I'm not gonna kill my own brother  
 **God👑:** I'm not that petty  
 **God👑:** all I did was take the box of soft cookies he hides from our sister and put them on a self he can't reach cause he's smol af  
 **PrinceAli:** Okay but that *is* petty as fuck  
 **God👑:** sir  
 **God👑:** I'm sure we have established already  
 **God👑:** my one personality trait is sassy  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I thought he was gonna tell Scheherazade about me having cookies in my room  
 **God👑:** I could still do that  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** NO  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** tf kind of name is scheherazade?  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** sounds like a sneeze  
 **God👑:** Scheherazade is our oldest sister  
 **God👑:** not the point  
 **PrinceAli:** Aladdin  
 **PrinceAli:** are they those Safeway cookies?  
 **PrinceAli:** liek the five-dollar holiday ones?  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** apparently no one in this group chat can spell  
 **PrinceAli:** SHUSH  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** yeah it's those cookies  
 **PrinceAli:** t a s t e  
 **God👑:** uh, i think the fuck not  
 **God👑:** Aladdin is a little smthng called GLUTEN INTOLERANT  
 **God👑:** THOSE COOKIES COULD VERY WELL KILL HIM  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** oh damn  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Aladdin, Jesus  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** what??  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** they're really good...  
 **God👑:** i know they;re good, but i will not have you dying on my watch  
 **God👑:** Scheherazade would blame me and you know it  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** DID ANY OF YOU GO TO SCHOOL?  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** English is hard :(  
 **PrinceAli:** seconded  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** thirded  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** fourthed  
 **God👑:** fifthed  
 **PrinceAli:** bitch don't talk  
 **God👑:** bitch shut the fuck up  
 **God👑:** language in general is hard  
 **PrinceAli:** touche

**_________________________________________________________________________**

"Judar, you seriously need to relax a bit more," Hakuryuu said.

Morgiana looked up from her phone, Aladdin was watching Alibaba and Judar intently, and Hakuryuu was correcting their movements. They had a week until tryouts and Alibaba certainly thought they were coming along nicely. For the past two days they had been working with music, and Alibaba had most of the steps down exactly. He knew that dancing was much more than just moving your body, though, so he was focusing on getting into that bounce that he loved so much.

However, it seemed as though Judar was having the most problems. Hakuryuu was constantly telling him to relax, just slide into it, but he just stayed tense, especially when it came to the touching bits. Alibaba was stressed that it was because of himself and that he was making Judar uncomfortable.

Judar ruffled his hair. They had stopped momentarily from thirty minutes of non-stop dancing. Alibaba was running low on stamina, but he was going to persevere. Aladdin stood up and walked over to them. "Hey, Judar, are you imagining Hakuryuu instead of Alibaba?" he asked.

Alibaba raised his eyebrows. What? Judar grumbled. "I mean... yeah. Hakuryuu's the only one I've been dancing with since this whole thing. Why shouldn't I?"

Aladdin clicked his tongue. "Don't do that." he shot a finger gun at him. "Alibaba isn't Hakuryuu, he's Alibaba."

Morgiana let out a little laugh. "Hm, yes, and the floor here is made out of floor..." she mumbled to herself.

Aladdin suppressed a smile. "The key to getting you to relax is just understanding that Alibaba isn't Hakuryuu, and he isn't going to dance like him."

Hakuryuu hummed, agreeing. "You think you can do that, Judar?" he asked.

Judar hesitated, but then he nodded. Hakuryuu smiled, twirling his finger around. "Alright, take it from the top!" he said.

And just like that, the tension was pretty much gone. Alibaba had a much easier time dancing with Judar, and it was great because whenever they made eye contact, Alibaba felt like Judar was really looking at him. The day was dedicated to fixing mistakes, and then Hakuryuu announced they would be working with emotion tomorrow.

"Emotion? Why the hell do we need emotion for dancing?" Alibaba asked, sitting down and practically drowning himself with his water bottle.

Hakuryuu and Judar shared a look. "Well, your emotions are going to impact your dancing significantly, also simply when your dancing absorbs the emotions you want to portray then you can really get far," he explained. "This song here has a kind of psychotic vibe, so basically we're going to try to emulate that."

Judar snorted. "I thought that was obvious when we literally break to Junko pose midway through the song." he laughed.

"If I do recall that was your idea," Hakuryuu spoke without even looking over at Judar, who started sputtering aimlessly. 

Alibaba hummed. "Okay, I don't think that will be my strong suit but I'll try."

Morgiana and Aladdin were waiting for him at the doorway, and just before he was heading out to meet them, someone grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey," Judar spoke, voice quiet enough for only him to hear it. "You'll be fine. Just watch me."

Alibaba blinked, nodded dryly, then continued to walk away, feeling quite a bit light-headed.

It may not seem like it, but Alibaba really needed to be alone at the moment. Practising non-stop had really taken its toll, and he really needed to just be in his bed and sleep. He basically collapsed when he got home, passing out almost immediately even though it was only four in the afternoon. When he woke up it was a little past nine and he felt incredibly sore. He rolled over on his side and tried to go back to sleep but just couldn't so eventually he got up and walked into the kitchen, blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

It was almost dark outside, stars being seen but the sky not completely black yet. Alibaba slumped onto one of the barstools next to the kitchen island, not even bothering to turn on the lights, and just pulled out his phone. He knew he was delaying the inevitable, but what else could he really do? He knew he had to wait on arrangements for his dad's funeral until at least after auditions, but that just felt... so disrespectful. Yes, his dad had been sick for the past half a year but when he was healthy and around the house, he was genuinely so nice and Alibaba missed him more than anything. His dad believed in him more than anyone and he knew his dad would probably still _want_ him to continue working hard but... it all just felt so wrong. 

His phone buzzed and Alibaba was jolted out of his shock.

 **God👑:** pspspsps  
 **God👑:** you awake?  
 **God👑:** Aladdin's passed out on the couch  
 **God👑:** check it

 _**God👑** _ _sent an image_

Alibaba laughed out loud. In the picture, Aladdin had his face squished against the arm of the couch, one arm trapped between his body while the other hung over the arm in an awkward position, one leg dangling over the side, blissful smile on his face while droll was spilling out of the corner of his mouth.

 **PrinceAli:** lmfao  
 **God** **👑:** i don't wanna move him bc i think he's having a wet dream  
 **God👑:** gross  
 **PrinceAli:** just leave him  
 **God👑:** don't mind if I do

Alibaba didn't know what possessed him to do this, but without him being in full control of his body he pressed the call button. Judar answered right away. "Hey, wassup?" he asked.

"Are you free to talk?" Alibaba asked, hoping the desperation in his voice didn't show.

"It's only 9 pm, sure thing," Judar replied.

"How late do you stay up?"

"Usually till around 1 ish."

"Damn."

"Then I get up at 9 because I need time to do my makeup."

Alibaba laughed. "Yeah, can't relate. I don't think even Morgiana wears makeup."

"Yeah, I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. I should send you the pics of when Aladdin got into my shit when he was like 10, it was hilarious."

"Yes, _please_ send me those."

"Gotta find 'em first. I'll send them in the group chat tomorrow if I remember."

"Judar, if you don't remember it would be a crime against God."

"I gotchu covered babe."

Alibaba blinked. Babe? He swallowed, tongue suddenly uncomfortably sitting in his mouth. "Babe?" he asked.

Silence. Then Judar cleared his throat. "Sorry, force of habit. I call everyone I know pet names like that. Hakuryuu can vouch for that." he spoke, voice a little wavy. "Sorry if it's uncomfortable."

"No it's fine, it just surprised me is all," Alibaba replied, trying to sound calm. He really didn't mind but... having Judar say something like that made him feel really fluffy, and it was nice. He wanted to keep talking to him. "I'm probably not gonna be able to sleep until later as well so... I don't mind staying up and talking with you."

Judar hummed. "Is Morgiana also asleep?" he asked. "I feel like she would be nice to talk to, probably better than me."

"She is nice to talk to, but she's probably in bed, plus I feel like I would end up crying if I talked to her, y'know?" he frowned. "That came out wrong. I like Morgiana, but she's not... how do I say this? She's the kind of person that you can count on and the kind of person you go to when your stressed to get it all out. I don't want that, I just want to feel good."

"I get that," Judar replied. "So, I make you feel good?"

Alibaba flushed, oh God he could _hear_ Judar smirk on the other line. "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Yeah, that's fair."

They ended up talking well after midnight, and Alibaba even stayed on when Judar fell asleep by accident. Maybe it was creepy, but hearing his friend's gentle breathing calmed him down a bit, and when he felt his eyes droop, he finally hung up, shuffled to his bed, pulled the covers over his head, and promptly fell asleep.

**_________________________________________________________________________**

**Actual_Sunshine:** whatever Judar is about to send do not look at it  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** ignore it all  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** OwO, what's this?  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** what the fuck  
 **PrinceAli:** Morgiana... please never do that again  
 **God👑:** great! everyone's here!  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** bitch you better not  
 **God👑:** make me, short stack  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** :0  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** :0  
 **PrinceAli:** :0  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** >:0  
 **God👑:** :)  
 **God👑:** we're getting off-topic, I still have a cold glass of revenge  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I feel my soul leaving my body  
 **PrinceAli:** OH WAIT IS IT THE PIC YOU TOLD ME ABOUT??  
 **God👑:** yup B)  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** YOU TOLD PEOPLE?!  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I feel betrayed  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** my own brother...  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** how could you  
 **God👑:** oh shut up I just told Alibubu  
 **God👑:** although I'm about to tell everyone else here  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** *sips tea* you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** hey same  
 **God👑:** be ready for your eyes to be blessed  
 **God👑:** either that or have bleach and/or a melon baller nearby  
 **PrinceAli:** damn that sounds gruesome

_**God👑** sent an image_

**Actual_Sunshine:** AGH  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** AVERT YOUR EYES  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** aw  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** why are you putting eyeliner on your mouth  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I WAS TEN OKAY?!  
 **PrinceAli:** THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** ALIBABA I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS  
 **PrinceAli:** WE ARE  
 **PrinceAli:** AND FRIENDS LAUGH AT THEIR FRIENDS WHEN THEIR BROTHER SENDS HILARIOUS PICS TO THE GROUP CHAT  
 **PrinceAli:** THAT'S HOW SOCIETY WORKS ALADDIN  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** omg  
 **God👑:** I'm wheezing over here  
 **God👑:** Scheherazade thought I was dying, which just made me laugh harder  
 **God👑:** I can barely type  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** are you and Aladdin in the same room?  
 **God👑:** nah  
 **God👑:** am in my room  
 **God👑:** Aladdin's in the kitchen, prolly trying to take his cookies back from on top of the fridge  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I'VE BEEN CAUGHT  
 **God👑:** Scheherazade gonna yell at ou  
 **God👑:** already sent her down  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** b e t r a y a l  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** hey let us know how it goes  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** this is a soap opera in itself  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** wait can I put a few cards on the table?  
 **God👑:** do it

 _**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild** _ _sent an image_

 **PrinceAli:** omg I remember this  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** why do you all hate me?  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** pffft-  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** why am I not surprised?  
 **PrinceAli:** Judar?? Thoughts??  
 **God👑:**...  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** shit  
 **God👑:** oh yeah, Scheherazade is definitely gonna hear about this one  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** WAIT PLEASE NO SHE WILL LITERALLY GROUND ME UNTIL I DIE  
 **PrinceAli:** you were the one that wanted to sneak into a strip club  
 **PrinceAli:** be grateful that we busted you out before you went to juvie  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** Hakuryuu is my only true friend  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** as if  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** please explain how we would get along at all?  
 **God👑:** yeah Aladdin, Hakuryuu ain't even into that kinda stuff  
 **God👑:** tbh he's probably the most innocent of us all  
 **God👑:** also still a virgin  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** i take pride in that  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** i think the only one who isn't a virgin is Alibaba  
 **PrinceAli:** HA  
 **God👑:** EXCUSE  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** oh sorry i just assumed  
 **God👑:** BITCH  
 **God👑:** NOT EVEN  
 **PrinceAli:** I still feel superior  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** what makes you all think I'm a virgin?  
 **PrinceAli:** bc u r a child  
 **PrinceAli:** and that would be paedophilia if anyone DID have sex with you  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** I AM FUCKING NINETEEN  
 **Eternal.G.Note:** child  
 **God👑:** child  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** child  
 **PrinceAli:** child  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** i hate all of you  
 **God👑:** no you don't B)  
 **Actual_Sunshine:** >:(

**_________________________________________________________________________**

"Hey, Judar can you come and help me with something?"

"Yeah, coming!" 

Judar practically jumped down the stairs to see Scheherazade at the bottom of the stairs, putting on her coat. "Can you come with me, please?" she asked. "Aladdin's taking a nap right now and I'm going to need some help getting some stuff."

"Yeah, sure." Judar hopped down, pulling on his leather jacket and boots and following Scheherazade out to the car.

She sat in the front and turned on the music, classical station as usual. Judar stared out the window as they headed to wherever they were going. Judar probably needed to get out of the house anyway, it had been a while since he'd gone anywhere other than the studio, and since the auditions were only a few days away he needed a mental break. It barely registered when Scheherazade pulled into a Starbucks drive-thru. "Do you want anything?" she asked.

Judar gave her a sideways glance, smirking. "I feel like you should have my order memorized by now." he teased, poking her in the shoulder that was exposed by her light pink sundress.

Scheherazade rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah yeah, I remember." she rolled down the window. A barista greeted them, asking what they wanted, and Scheherazade gave the order. "Hello! Can I have one grande hibiscus refresher and a venti vanilla frappuccino with raspberry syrup and blackberries, and can you do that second one with soy milk please?"

"Sure thing, can I get a name for that?"

"Yeah, this might be a bit hard to spell, so let me know if you need me to spell it out. Scheherazade."

"Oh wow! That's such an exotic name!"

Judar cringed. Their culture wasn't _exotic_ just because it was _different_. He had half a mind to tell this girl off right now. But he kept his mouth shut and just slumped in his seat. Scheherazade spelt out her name and they were asked to go around. The barista met them at the window with a smile. "Hey there! How are you?" she asked.

"I'm doing well, how about yourself?"

"I'm okay, just work stuff."

Judar didn't bother making eye contact with her. Scheherazade and Aladdin were more similar while Judar related to Yunan, both of them were more reserved, even though Yunan travelled a lot. Scheherazade and Aladdin were more extroverted and unfazed by little things.

Unfourtunerly for him, the barista noticed him. "Oh, hi there! Is that your boyfriend?" she asked.

Scheherazade laughed. "Allah, no. He's my brother."

The barista's smile wavered, and Judar knew exactly why. Out of all of them, Scheherazade was the only one who still partially practised Islam. The other three were Atheist and while Scheherazade didn't participate in all of the practices, things like that would slip out and confuse the Americans around them. Judar wanted to die.

"Oh, that's cool." she waved at him. "Hey! I like your makeup!"

Judar ignored her, he didn't care about being rude, he just wanted to stop talking to her. Eventually, their drinks were ready and the obnoxious barista gave them to Scheherazade. "Thanks for coming, Scheherazade," she said, butchering her name, somehow adding a completely unnecessary accent to a few of the vowels.

Judar scowled. "It's Scheherazade." he corrected her. 

"Judar, _faqat 'iahda_." Scheherazade hissed at him.

 _"Telhas teeze,_ I ain't dealing with this bullshit today."

Scheherazade sighed but said nothing else as they pulled out of the drive-thru. They were quiet for a bit, and Judar didn't look at his sister as he gently sipped on his straw. "You didn't need to start drama." she finally spoke.

"I can't stand it when they pronounce your name wrong. Yours or Yunan's or Aladdin's or even mine. We're people, not Disneyland face characters." Judar replied.

"While I share those same feelings, it's really fine. That's just how it is. Now drop the subject, please."

Judar huffed. Scheherazade made an exasperated sound. They parked in Target and they both got out, Judar maybe halfway done with his drink while Scheherazade wasn't even a third of the way finished. "What do we need from here again?"

"More makeup for you because you're gonna whine if you run out, and a few other things. We can get dinner while we out as well, I think there are a few restaurants nearby."

"We're going without Aladdin?"

Scheherazade put her hands on her hips. "Aladdin is currently grounded," she replied with a smile.

Judar mirrored the look on her face. "You are such a petty bitch and I love it."

"Thanks, I learn from the best."

"I'm taking that as a compliment."

Target was fine, Judar did get some weird looks but he was used to it by now, he looked different, understandable. Not his fault he hadn't cut his hair since the day he was born and liked wearing makeup, something that probably wouldn't fly back in Saudi Arabia but he could do whatever he liked here in Chicago. There was a guy that started hitting on Scheherazade but she handled herself pretty well. Come to think of it, Aladdin was probably the only one of the Magi family that was heterosexual, everyone else was part of the community. Judar was gay and Yunan was queer, and Scheherazade was pan. Again, not something that would have been acceptable had they not been in the US. 

They checked out and went back into the car, Scheherazade scrolling through her phone. "You want Italian or Mexican?" she asked.

"Italian, always."

"Should have seen that one coming."

Judar was blissfully oblivious to what was going to come, but the second the two of them stepped into the restaurant someone yelled his name. Judar jumped in his skin, looking around for whoever it was, locking eyes with a particular blonde bimbo who was standing in his seat grinning like a maniac. "Alibaba?" Judar asked.

"Are those friends of yours?" Scheherazade asked.

"Um, yeah they are but-"

"Judar get your femboy ass over here!" Alibaba called.

Judar facepalmed. Scheherazade giggled under her palm. "Well, I guess we've found our seats." he teased.

"Kill me now."

Scheherazade dragged him by the scarf over to sit down in the booth with Alibaba and Morgiana. "Hi, there! My name's Scheherazade, I'm Judar's sister." she introduced herself.

Morgiana shook her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Ma'am. I'm Morgiana and this is Alibaba. We're good friends with Aladdin as well."

"Cher, stop acting like you're my mom," Judar grumbled, wanting to disappear into the void. 

Scheherazade laughed. "Right sorry." she apologized. "I don't mean to sound rude, and I don't want to assume, but are you two on a date?" she asked Morgiana and Alibaba. "We'd hate to be a burden if you are."

The two looked at each other, then back at her, then started laughing. Even Judar had to snort. Morgiana and Alibaba were close, but definitely not close enough for a romantic relationship. Maybe if they really wanted to they would, but for the moment they were missing the things that they would've needed for that type of relationship. Not that Judar was a huge expert, any and all relationship he's had before had gone up in flames, but he knew the kind of telltale signs that couples usually exhibited, and Morgiana and Alibaba just didn't have that spark yet.

"Nah, not dating, just wanted to go out and get Italian food," Alibaba explained.

Morgiana nodded. "We just got back from some errands and were very hungry," she added. "Um, if you don't mind, is Aladdin with you?"

Scheherazade smiled. "Oh, he's grounded."

Alibaba snickered. "Honestly, serves him right." he joked. "Ma'am, we tried to warn him, trust me."

"I believe you did. But mixed with him trying to get into a strip club illegally and trying to kill himself with cookies, he needed a break from things. Of course, I'll still let him dance though."

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Alibaba's head, almost like he was reminded of something. "Oh, by the way, Judar, I've been working with Morgiana with the more expressive parts of the dance at home, so I think I'll actually be able to pull it off now!"

Judar stared at him. Was he really that dedicated? He must be. But that was a lot of time to spend on something that Judar felt like should be natural. He offered Alibaba a half-hearted smile. "That's great, I'm excited to see it."

They spent the rest of the meal together, talking and getting to know each other, etcetera. Morgiana and Scheherazade engaged in deep conversation that Judar and Alibaba just listened along to, not a clue what was going on.

At one point in the meal, Scheherazade insisted she switch seats with Alibaba so it would be easier to talk to Morgiana, but Judar had a creeping feeling that she was just trying to get the two of them closer. And it worked. 

This was different than at the pizza place. Judar wasn't quite as talkative, and Aladdin wasn't really there as a buffer. With Morgiana and Scheherazade talking to each other, it kind of felt like they were alone together, which was slightly nerve-wracking.

Alibaba didn't seem to care though. He relaxed his shoulders and let a soft smile cross his face. Judar covered his mouth with his hand, almost not caring that he was blatantly staring at him. He could hear noise around him but couldn't make out words, it was like he had tunnel vision.

Then he felt something graze across his hand resting on the booth chair. He looked down to see Alibaba's hand on top of his. Was in an unconscious mistake? Did he mean it? Judar swallowed thickly, eyes training back on his sister and Morgiana, shifting his hand to the other side so his fingers could slot together with Alibaba's, revelling in the way he was able to make the blonde blush ever so slightly.

Their food came and everyone dug in. By just the simple gesture of hand holding it seemed to have opened the gate, and Judar started being able to converse with Alibaba a lot more freely, conversation flowing nicely between the four of them.

Near the end of their meal, Scheherazade was contemplating getting dessert when Judar felt brave. He was a very touchy person, anyone who was close to him knew that, but he wouldn't just be clingy with anyone, after all, he hated strangers. He leaned back slightly, not taking his eyes off of Scheherazade when he moved Alibaba's hand from the seat to his thigh, guiding it to rest of his leg while he leaned forward and propped his head up in his palm. He heard Alibaba gulp and then remove his hand from Judar's leg to fold in his lap.

Immediately Judar was flooded with regret and guilt. Oh, fuck he probably pushed Alibaba to far with that, and things were going so well as well. It's not like he could get in a relationship with him anyway, but it was nice at least, but now he might not want to touch him at all anymore and they might fuck up at auditions and-

"Hey, Cher, can we go home? I think there was something in the food cause my stomach is killing me." Judar asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Oh dear, yeah we can head out now. Waiter! Check please!"

Judar felt horrible for flaking like this but he just needed to get out of there before he made things worse. He wouldn't look Alibaba in the eye and just ran out as soon as possible. When he got in the car he held his legs up to his chest.

"Is everything okay?" Scheherazade asked, turning on the car. "You look a little upset."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Cher, I said I'm fine." 

"Judar."

"Don't use your mom voice on me!" Judar snapped.

Scheherazade gave him a look and Judar sighed. "I think I royally fucked things up..." he mumbled.

"Talk to me."

So he spilled, as they drove home Judar explained everything, and Scheherazade listened. When they got home she reached over and put a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Hey, everything is going to be okay. Whatever option you choose, I'm sure you wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt him or the bond you guys have."

"He probably thinks I'm some kind of disgusting perv now..." Judar grumbled.

"Judar," Scheherazade warned. "Don't think like that. Just do whatever you feel is right and things will work out just fine."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really woke up today and chose chatfic.
> 
> Also, we stan Scheherazade as the best big sister ever in this house.
> 
> It feels good knowing I'm the one carrying this ship tag rn. Seriously tho, need backup. I think I might possibly run out of ideas and ya'll will STARVE. 
> 
> Also if I butchered anything about Islam and Arabian culture... I'm very sorry. If it needs correcting I'll be happy to do so. I know the characters are kinda Japanese-washed but still...


	4. Disturbia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alibaba whimpered as he finally came to the conclusion.  
> He had a crush on fucking _Judar_.  
>  **___________**  
>  _Oh hell..._  
>  He was actually completely infatuated with Alibaba.  
>  _FUCK._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sips hot chocolate cause I hate tea* I didn't want to write any more dance sequences for the time being. Ya'll already got that privilege at the beginning of this chapter I ain't doing it again.
> 
> Also, I kinda hate myself because this chapter is a bit shorter than I'd like it to be, I promise the next one(s) will make up for it. Or at least it will be longer and with more characters.
> 
> BTW, some info that might be helpful is that Aladdin, Yunan, Scheherazade, and Judar all do have a last name, it's Magi. Haha, I think I'm funny. (I know I'm not ;p;)

"You got this?"

"Yes."

"Just making sure."

"For the love of God, start the music." 

The music started playing and Alibaba grabbed onto Judar's arms, hopping along to the beat before twirling around with him. They were going through the routine one more time today before auditions tomorrow. They shifted so their hands with linked together, locking eyes while going back and forth, then letting go and pressing up against each other. Alibaba's muscle memory kicked in and he mostly focused on getting his expressions right.

He grabbed onto Judar's waist, dipping him as he moved 180 degrees before hopping up again, circling around Alibaba, touch featherlight on his shoulders. The chorus hit and they separated, dancing in sync next to each other. Alibaba drew his face up into a smirk, and when he glanced over at Judar he saw the other had done this ten times better than he ever could, tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth when he held his hands out to alternate different poses, feet moving fast while his top half was still. Alibaba was mirroring these movements, trying his best to look like he had lost all shreds of sanity, but he was pretty sure he just looked stupid.

The succession started up and the two came together again. There was a lot of touching on Judar's part that Alibaba had pretty much become immune to. Judar offered him a soft smile near the end, almost throwing Alibaba off, but he recovered as Judar wrapped one arm around his neck and leaned back, Alibaba supporting him. They practically came nose-to-nose at the ending pose, waiting a few seconds for the song to end properly before standing back up.

"That was pretty good," Judar said with a smile, crossing his arms. "I think we're gonna ace auditions."

Alibaba smiled as well. "I really hope so. Dancing with you is a lot of fun."

It seemed any awkwardness had kind of fizzled out between them, even after the restaurant incident. Alibaba still had that in the back of his mind, but he really didn't want to bring it out. He felt really guilty though, he knew Judar was sexual by nature in general, so he shouldn't have been surprised things had escalated slightly from an innocent hand-hold that _he_ initiated. But it had shocked him and got him confused, so he pulled away. He regretted it because Judar left directly afterwards. He was so stupid.

Luckily it seems Judar had probably forgotten about that incident and they were just dancing as normal. 

"How much more time do we have until we have to leave?" Judar asked.

Alibaba blinked, having spaced out for half a second. He looked over at the clock above the door. "Uh, fifteen minutes? Why?"

Judar chuckled, reaching forward, grabbing both fo Alibaba's hands, and spinning him around. Alibaba yelped and Judar started laughing. They nearly fell over but Judar caught Alibaba before they did. "You seem kinda depressed, and I used to spin Hakuryuu around like that whenever he wasn't feeling himself, Aladdin too," he said, righting Alibaba. "Yunan used to do that to me when I was little, whenever he was around at least. And it made me feel better no matter what!"

"What made you think I was upset?" Alibaba asked.

Judar shrugged. "You just seem to be spacing out a bit more than usual, that's all," he remarked. "Better now?"

Alibaba lolled his head to the side. "A little." he agreed.

Judar let out a breathy laugh. "Mind if I hug you?"

"Go ahead."

Alibaba was engulfed by Judar's arms around him suddenly. He hugged him back and gently swayed back and forth. "We're gonna win," Judar whispered.

"Don't jinx it," Alibaba replied.

"We will. No doubt about it."

"You really believe that?"

"Of course I do."

Alibaba hummed, looking up at the ceiling. Judar didn't let go of him right away, and when he did, his entire body drooped. "Right, so, um... I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yup, I'll see you then." Alibaba shot him finger guns as he walked backwards out the door.

Judar let out a small laugh. "Bye, Alibubu."

Alibaba closed the door and resisted the urge to just book it away. They actually did it, they figured out a way to get them both to regions, and it almost didn't feel real. Alibaba's fingers and toes were tingling, he felt lighter than he had in a million years.

Maybe they really did have a chance at winning. Or at least getting into regions.

This kind of excitement crept up on him, and he got so jittery he could barely sleep, and he woke up feeling buzzed. Even driving to the audition site he felt like he was going to explode from the inside out. He checked his phone once he parked to see a string of texts from Judar.

 **God👑** **:** pspspspsps  
**God👑** **:** alibubu  
**God👑** **:** I'm fucking nervous  
**God👑** **:** STOP IGNORING ME  
**God👑** **:** srsly I feel like I'm gonna have a mental breakdown  
**God👑** **:** but like in a good way??  
**God👑** **:** omg my hands are shaking  
**God👑** **:** ALADDIN JUST FUCKING GAVE ME SLEEPY TIME TEA  
**God👑** **:** WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS???  
**God👑** **:** oh wait nevermind this tastes good  
**God👑** **:** BUT NOW I HAVE TO PEE  
**God👑** **:** ALIBUBU  
**God👑** **:** A  
**God👑** **:** L  
**God👑** **:** I  
**God👑** **:** B  
**God👑** **:** U  
**God👑** **:** B  
**God👑** **:** U  
**PrinceAli:** omfg  
**PrinceAli:** dude calm tf down  
**PrinceAli:** i am in the fucking parking lot  
**God👑** **:** great :)  
**God👑** **:** now get in here before I come out there and beat ur ass  
**PrinceAli:** I would put an eye roll emoji but that's too much effort  
**God👑** **:** fuk u

Alibaba closed his phone and walked into the building, almost overwhelmed by the amount of people, all paired up for the partner dance. Alibaba looked around for Judar and luckily he didn't have to look for very long. He found his favourite stripper-dancer leaning against the wall of the room where the auditions were being held. Juda looked over and made eye contact with Alibaba, smiling when he saw him. "There you are, I thought you bailed on me," he said. "Or another family member died."

"Haha." Alibaba faked laughed, standing next to Judar. "Did you pee?"

Judar gave him a look. "Yes, I peed," he replied in a mocking tone of voice. "I'm not sleepy though, my nerves are still practically jumping out of my skin."

"Mine too, glad you're not lying about it to look tough." Alibaba leaned his head against the wall.

"No reason to, especially around you," Judar replied. "I just know we're going to ace this."

Alibaba hummed, he only hoped that was true.

**_________________________________________________________________________**

Everything that happened after auditions was a haze and Alibaba walked through it in a kind of trance. He remembered finishing up and then leaving with Judar, and then immediately getting a call from Morgiana saying they got a table at the pizza place they liked and he snapped out of it, already dragging Judar out without even asking to other if he wanted to go.

Alibaba drove them there, and that was quite an awkward car drive. Both of them were tired and sweaty, and it had been raining outside when they got out, so both of them cooled off quickly and were nearly shivering by the time they arrived. Alibaba smiled at him after he parked. "Hey, I think we did good," he said.

Judar cast him a glance. "Well, of course, we did, all things considered at least." he let out a little laugh. "I just wanna turn off my brain right now and eat pizza."

"You and me both," Alibaba replied, opening the car door.

They walked in and found Morgiana and Aladdin, joined by Hakuryuu and Scheherazade this time. Judar almost died of embarrassment when he saw her but stayed regardless. Alibaba sat in between Aladdin and Morgiana and Judar slid in besides Hakuryuu. They already had the food ordered and in general, just had a good time. Hakuryuu ordered the garlic knots they had and Judar nearly stole all of them before getting his own. Alibaba couldn't remember the last time he had been part of a group like this, it was really nice actually.

Then Morgiana sprung the question. "Hey, how do you guys think you did at auditions?"

It went silent. Judar and Alibaba locked eyes. Alibaba shrugged. "I think we did good."

Judar scoffed. "Good? Babe, we were _incredible!_ " he exclaimed. "You guys should've seen us! I'm pretty sure we made everyone that was watching fall in love with us," he added with a wink.

Alibaba tossed some of his discarded crust at him. "Shut up," he said teasingly. "I just hope it was enough to allow us to pass."

"Me and Hakuryuu have always been able to make it to regions, we just haven't ever won." Judar crossed his arms. "This year though, we will be taking that first-place prize home."

Alibaba smiled. "I certainly hope so."

Scheherazade side-eyed them, then narrowed her eyes. "Hakuryuu, are you seeing this?" she asked.

Hakuryuu nodded, taking a sip of his drink nonchalantly. "Yup, you're not the only one."

Morgiana placed her hand on the table. "Now taking bets on which one of them will catch on first."

Aladdin, Alibaba, and Judar all cocked their head in unison, all sharing the same thought process... _what the fuck_? Scheherazade let out a little laugh. "I forgot Aladdin, Yunan, and Judar all share a brain cell. Looks like Yunan is using it at the moment."

Aladdin's mouth dropped open in offense. Judar gasp, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Ohmigod... CHER! That was so fucking bitchy!" he smirked. "I'm so proud of you."

Scheherazade offered him a sweet smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Alibaba looked over at Morgiana for some kind of guidance but she just smiled and shook her head, placing a hand on Alibaba's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you guys did great at auditions. In fact, I'm sure you did."

"Thanks... I'm still a little nervous though."

Judar groaned loudly. "Fuck being nervous! What's done is done we can't change what happened!"

Alibaba blinked, but then relaxed into a smile and nodded. "Yup, you're exactly right on that!"

The rest of the night was dedicated to partying and eating and drinking and talking and generally just having fun. Alibaba left feeling absolutely elated and even more confident about the results of the auditions than he was before, and for the first time in a long long time, he was able to rest easy... for about five seconds until his phone went off. He begrudgingly answered it, rubbing his eyes. "Hello?" he asked. "Who's-"

"Hey, um, Alibaba?" Morgiana's voice came through the speaker.

"Morgiana? It's like almost 1 am. You should be going to sleep."

"I know I know, but the results come out tomorrow, don't they?" Morgiana said. "I'm just a little nervous for me and Aladdin, not to mention you and Judar." she swallowed. "I um... I've never really been this nervous before. I guess it's because... I'm worried about you."

Alibaba raised an eyebrow, sitting up and leaning back against his headboard. "Worried about little old me? Morgiana, I'm flattered, but I'm perfectly fine, you know that."

"I know, but things are different this time around."

Alibaba smiled to himself, looking up at the ceiling. "Just because things are different doesn't mean bad. I'm sure everything will work out. In fact, I can almost guarantee it." he said. "Even if we don't go to regions, I think just as much good will come from that outcome. Because..."

He felt his face heat up as he said that, cheeks aflame and he realized what he was saying. "Because... we wouldn't have been friends with everyone like this. Judar, Scheherazade, Hakuryuu... we wouldn't be as close as we are now. A-And..."

What he was saying and what he meant were different things. Alibaba covered his mouth with his hand as he finally understood.

"Alibaba?" Morgiana asked.

Alibaba took some shaky breaths, just thinking about all of this had made him realize something, and the face that came to mind was none other than his dancing partner. "No... no no no no no no no..." he whispered to himself.

"Alibaba?! Is everything okay?!" Morgiana almost shouted.

"I-I gotta let you go Morgiana, we can talk in the morning!" Alibaba said, hanging up and throwing his phone to the other side of the bed, knees coming up to his chest and hands flying up to cover his blushing face.

"Fuck... no no no no no... I can't seriously be..."

He swallowed thickly. Images were popping into his mind. Judar dancing, Judar having fun, Judar smiling, Judar calling him at weird hours just to talk to him, Judar being bitchy and rude, fuck, _Judar_.

Alibaba whimpered as he finally came to the conclusion.

He had a crush on fucking _Judar_.

**_________________________________________________________________________**

Judar drummed his fingers on the wheel of the car while Aladdin stared out the window with a smile on his face, kicking his legs slightly out from the seat. He was clearly jittery from excitement. Today was the day they were going to find out who progressed to regions and who didn't. Aladdin was so pumped he could barely sleep last night, which meant Judar got little to no sleep as well. 

Really though, he wasn't too worried. Judar was confident in his and Alibaba's dancing abilities. He would be more surprised if they _didn't_ make it to regions.

They arrived at the studio and parked, Aladdin practically jumping out of the car, and Judar had to nab him by the collar to stop him from running away from him. "Jesus, calm the fuck down, Aladdin."

Aladdin pouted. "But I'm just so excited to find out if I made it! I really hope I did!"

Judar rolled his eyes. "They probably disqualified you because you're nine years old." he snorted.

Aladdin started squirming in Judar, trying to hit him in order to let him go. "Not funny, Judar!"

Judar started laughing, shutting the car door and locking it. "I know, I'm joking, you know that."

Aladdin puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms. "I do not look nine..." he mumbled.

Judar let him go in favour of stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You're right, more like five years old."

" _Akhrs_!" Aladdin shouted. " _Ya Ibn el Sharmouta_!"

That only made Judar laugh even harder. "You done shouting at me or are you ready to go in and find out if you made the cut or not?"

Aladdin immediately perked up and grabbed Judar by the wrist to drag him into the studio building, to which Ja'far was waiting behind the desk. He took one look at both of them, then looked back down. "Nope, not dealing with the bastard and the energy ball today," he said, not even making eye contact.

Judar slammed his hands on the desk. "Hey, freckle-face! Where can we find the regions listings?" he asked not-so-politely.

"Judar! Aladdin!" someone from the stairs called.

The siblings looked over to see Alibaba and Morgiana standing there. Alibaba smiled widely and ran forward to grab Judar's hands and start leading him upstairs, talking a mile a minute. "Okay, so they're not only posted here but also in every dance studio in the state! It's a big deal, at first I wasn't sure if any of us made it, and there's a lot of people here so we barely got a glance at it but-!"

They reached the end of the stairs at the top floor, and still, Alibaba dragged Judar on to where the piece of paper pinned to the wall with the results were. Alibaba let go of Judar and ran forward, pointing very theatrically at a specific spot on the paper.

Judar scanned the whole thing. He saw Morgiana's name at the top of the solo's list, Aladdin's was a little further down. Then there at the duo's page, he saw it.

Smack-dab in the middle of the paper were their names.

_Alibaba Saluja and Judar Magi_

They did it... they actually did it.

Judar let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Why had he been nervous? He knew all along that they were going to succeed.

Alibaba smiled at him again, bright and beautiful. "We did it, Judar. We actually did it!"

Judar locked eyes with the blonde and was immediately hit with a shockwave of emotions. He felt happy and confused and his heart was beating tremendously fast. He swallowed and blinked rapidly. Then he tried to cover it up with a smirk.

"See, I told you so, Alibaba," he spoke, only hoping his voice didn't waver. "I said we were gonna get in."

Alibaba's smile only grew and he jumped forward to engulf Judar in a tight hug, the other being completely stunned by this. "I'm so glad..." Alibaba whispered, barely loud enough for Judar to hear, but he did.

Judar hesitantly put his arms around Alibaba and hugged him back, hoping Alibaba couldn't hear his rapidly pounding heart. Alibaba let go but kept his arms on Judar's shoulders, the other holding onto his forearms tentatively. Alibaba flashed him another magnificent smile, a closed-eyes one that made Judar want to melt on sight.

And just like that, the feeling that Judar had been suspecting was laying dormant inside him for a while now bubbled up to the surface.

_Oh hell..._

He was actually completely infatuated with Alibaba.

 _FUCK_.

**_____________________________________________________**

"Aight, so what song are we using?" Judar asked, swiping through songs on his phone while Alibaba laid down on the floor, kicking his legs up in the air.

"I honestly don't really care, whatever would work with our styles."

Judar squinted at the phone. "That's the thing though, it's harder than you think. Personally, I would go for something fast-paced but sensual, and based on what I know about you, you're more likely to go for something more upbeat and bouncy."

Alibaba looked over at him. "Is that a bad thing?"

Judar shook his head. "It's not a bad thing, and the two could work together if given the right kind of music and dance sequence."

Alibaba nodded and propped himself up so he was sitting cross-legged. "Is Hakuryuu gonna help us again?"

"Most likely, yes."

"So then we really just need a song."

"Yes, and we have two months until regions."

"Got it..."

The two sat in silence for a bit. Alibaba plopped his face into his hands and looked up at Judar, inspecting every inch of him. It had only been two days since he realized his budding feelings for him, and it had kind of hit him like a freight train. But it also helped him to see his friend in a new light. It wasn't like originally he couldn't recognize that Judar was handsome, that much he knew from the first moment they meant. He was skinny with a flat stomach but could still hold himself enough to do some incredible dance moves. His hair looked way too soft for how long it was, and it made Alibaba was to run his fingers through it. And then there were his eyes, lined with that eyeliner that made Alibaba's stomach do a flip. His skin, lips, hands, voice, legs and thighs, _everything_.

It was really tempting Alibaba's ability to hold it together in front of someone he liked.

But he had no way to tell if Judar even liked guys, or if he even thought of Alibaba in that way. He probably didn't. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would be into blondes.

"Hey, are you listening?" Judar shocked Alibaba out of his trance. "Do you want me to play a couple of songs and see if we can find one that works?"

Alibaba cocked his head. "Would that work?"

Judar shrugged. "Well, it'll give us a good assessment of our choices and we can see if something clicks."

Alibaba stood up. "Okay, I'm down with that."

Judar scanned the line of music again before just pressing shuffle. What came on was an upbeat song, starting off with some intense instrumental, specifically trumpets. Alibaba smiled and started bouncing along with the beat. Then the lyrics started and they... weren't in English. Alibaba furrowed his brow and looked over at Judar.

"This was a song me and Hakuryuu did two years ago, so we'll probably not use it this year. It's Wild Side by Ali if you were wondering." he looked up at him. "And it has Japenese, English, and French parts."

Alibaba nodded in understanding, then he heard the English lyrics, almost indecipherable with the guy's accent. He smiled and took off, moving his body along to the song. It was really jazzy, which made for a lot of sharp movements, and the piano in the background was a good beat to listen to. He probably took a few missteps but that didn't matter, at the moment, he was just having fun. 

Then the song ended and Alibaba halted, breathing just a bit uneven.

"What the fuck was that?" Judar asked out of nowhere.

Alibaba looked over at his dancing partner, who was staring at him with a mixture of confusion, awe, and irritation. Alibaba blinked. "Uh, dancing?" he replied.

"Have you heard the song before?"

"No."

"Then how...?" Judar trailed off.

Alibaba let out a little laugh. "I was honestly just having fun with it, Judar. It doesn't matter if I had heard the song before, I improvised." 

Judar narrowed his eyes, then bared his teeth when he looked down at his phone again. "That's... stupid. Improv doesn't get you anywhere."

"Well, it's still fun."

Another song came on, one that Alibaba recognized. Geronimo... it started with drums and Alibaba found himself smiling again, hopping along with the beat of the percussion. Judar gave him a look of 'don't you fucking dare' and Alibaba stuck his tongue out and winked at him before jumping off again and dancing again. Judar didn't stop him nor did he stop the music, just letting Alibaba dance.

Judar flinched though when Alibaba halted in his movements, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, " _BOMBS AWAAAAY! BOMBS AWAY! BOMBS AWAAAAY!"_ in time with the song before dancing again.

"You fucker." Judar mumbled, but he smiled.

The song finished off and Alibaba was almost left breathless. Judar waved his phone towards him. "Third time's the charm?" he asked.

Alibaba smiled and nodded. "I could go one more round."

"That's what she said." Judar snickered as he pressed shuffle.

This time Alibaba did actually try to listen. It was a slower song this time, but the lyrics kicked off and it had a solid beat behind it. He threw his head back to look at the ceiling. This was the kind of song that Aladdin would love, the kind that could tell a story. He straightened and looked over at Judar, who was watching him intently. Alibaba smiled and reached out to him. " _Just take my hand and come with me_ ," he whispered

Judar blinked, looking confused, then Alibaba came over and grabbed his hands and started spinning him around. " _We can do anything if we put our mind to it_!" Alibaba started singing over the music.

"What are you doing?" Judar asked.

Alibaba only smiled. " _Take your whole life and then you put a line through it_."

He shifted so they were in a proper dancing position, one hand intertwined with Judar's while the other was on his waist, and his partner's hand was gripping his shoulder. " _Our love is yours if you're willing to take it_."

Judar hunched his shoulders and looked away. Alibaba took his hand off Judar's waist and tilted his face towards him. " _Give me your heart 'cause I ain't gonna break it_."

Was he really just giving in to whatever desires were building up inside him? Yes, but that's how he was. Overly close to those he was close to, and Judar was the one person that he wanted to be with right now, despite his doubts. " _So come away! Starting today! Let's start a new life together in a different place!_ "

Alibaba changed positions again in favour of spinning Judar around, locking their fingers together. " _We know that love is how all these ideas came to be!_ "

Judar spun himself back into Alibaba's arms and leaned against him. " _So baby run away with me..._ " he finished.

Alibaba smiled widely. "I think we found our regionals song."

Judar flushed a dark shade of red and nodded, trying to cover it up with a smirk. "Yeah, I think so too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't realize til after I posted this that the chapter summary is FUCKED but do I know how to change it? HA! n o
> 
> I want garlic knots now. We had a place that sold REALLY FUCKING GOOD garlic knots near my house but they had to close cause of Covid... just another reason to say F U C K Y O U C O R O N A. >:(


	5. Eastside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Actual_Sunshine:** yeah, and Yunan travels a lot  
>  **Actual_Sunshine:** but he's coming back today  
>  **PrinceAli:** okay, but what does this have to do with us Aladdin?  
>  **Actual_Sunshine:** because my nephew is coming back as well!  
>  **PrinceAli:** ...  
>  **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I'm sorry your WHAT?!  
>  **Eternal.G.Note:** I-  
>  **God👑:** yup, all of this is correct  
>  **PrinceAli:** HOW DO YOU HAVE A NEPHEW???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AliJu fluff go BRRRRRRRRR
> 
> Also Happy Valentine's day, here have a treat :>

**Actual_Sunshine** _renamed the group to **EXCITING!!! NEWS!!!**_

 **PrinceAli:** colour me confused  
**Eternal.G.Note:** i got the notification and immediately i feel like something horrible happened  
**Actual_Sunshine:** Is everyone here???  
**PrinceAli:** uhhhhhh  
**PrinceAli:** no i believe not  
**Actual_Sunshine:** ugh srsly?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** MORG  
**Actual_Sunshine:** JUDAR  
**Actual_Sunshine:** STOP WHATEVER UR DONG AND GET ON UR PHONES  
**Actual_Sunshine:** THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT UR DOING  
**God👑** **:** hehe dong  
**PrinceAli:** well there's one of em  
**PrinceAli:** also, what are you, 13???  
**God👑** **:** you are a single measly year older than me  
**God👑** **:** so stfu  
**Actual_Sunshine:** aight now we just need Morg  
**PrinceAli:** i dont think that's gonna happen, Aladdin  
**Actual_Sunshine:** WHAT?! WHY?! :(   
**PrinceAli:** bc Morgiana is busy  
**PrinceAli:** she got classes rn  
**PrinceAli:** and she will be in said classes until about 90 mins from now  
**Actual_Sunshine:** well shit  
**Eternal.G.Note:** what does she study?  
**PrinceAli:** last time I checked archaeology   
**God👑** **:** oooooooh boring  
**PrinceAli:** did you even go to college?  
**God👑** **:** I did  
**God👑** **:** psychology major bitch  
**PrinceAli:** and you call her boring?  
**God👑** **:** indeed B)  
**Actual_Sunshine:** guys shut up, i need to tell you all something but if Morg isnt here there's no point :(   
**Eternal.G.Note:** why not just tell us now and tell Morgiana later?   
**Actual_Sunshine:** bc that's not as fun :(((  
**PrinceAli:** Judar do you know what it is???  
**Actual_Sunshine:** don't you dare  
**God👑** **:** sorry bitches  
**God👑** **:** Aladdin's got blackmail on me that i never want to resurface ever  
**God👑** **:** he would also kill me with an incredibly blunt object, probably the closest thing next to him, which currently is the umbrella stand  
**God👑** **:** so my lips are zipped  
**PrinceAli:** dammit  
**Eternal.G.Note:** are we taking a raincheck or not?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** yeah i guess so :(((((  
**PrinceAli:** aight imma go take a nap if you don't mind  
**God👑** **:** old man  
**PrinceAli:** may i rephrase what you said earlier?  
**PrinceAli:** ONE  
**PrinceAli:** FUCKING  
**PrinceAli:** YEAR  
**God👑** **:** B)

 **Actual_Sunshine:** Morg  
**Actual_Sunshine:** Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg Morg  
**Actual_Sunshine:** M O R G  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** jesus, Aladdin, I just got out of class  
**Actual_Sunshine:** DONT CARE  
**Actual_Sunshine:** EVERYONE ELSE GET UR BUTT IN HERE  
**God👑** **:** present  
**Eternal.G.Note:** also here  
**Actual_Sunshine:** A L I B A B A  
**God👑** **:** A L I B U B U  
**Eternal.G.Note:** i feel as though these two are even more siblings now  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** tbh can't relate  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** only child  
**Eternal.G.Note:** i got five  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** eXCUSE ME  
**God👑** **:** how do you function with more than two/three????  
**Eternal.G.Note:** you act as though they aren't mostly adults now  
**God👑** **:** okay but like... how did you manage that when you were younger??  
**God👑** **:** high school was a NIGHTMARE with Cher and Yunan up my ass, and Aladdin was just a fucking brat 24/7  
**Actual_Sunshine:** RUDE  
**Eternal.G.Note:** tbh I'm kinda distant from them anyways  
**PrinceAli:** also can't relate  
**PrinceAli:** i got two half-sibs but i haven't met them  
**God👑** **:** HE LIVES  
**Actual_Sunshine:** ALIBABA UR HERE  
**PrinceAli:** sorry, not for long  
**Actual_Sunshine:** WHAT WHY?!?!  
**PrinceAli:** at the cremation place  
**ActualSunshine:**...  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:**...  
**Eternal.G.Note:**...  
**God👑** **:** damn  
**God👑** **:** I'm sorry man  
**PrinceAli:** it's fine  
**PrinceAli:** just waiting rn  
**PrinceAli:** i kinda already did my crying for today  
**God👑** **:** i will spare you my teasing for today  
**PrinceAli:** glad to hear I'm being blessed on this cursed day for me  
**God👑:** that's right, peasant   
**Eternal.G.Note:** omfg  
**Actual_Sunshine:** when will you be available to talk, Alibaba?  
**PrinceAli:** idk, prolly an hour-ish  
**Actual_Sunshine:** UGH  
**God👑** **:** s u f f e r p e a s a n t B)  
**Actual_Sunshine:** s t f u

 **Actual_Sunshine:** I FELL ASLEEP AND NOW IT'S TEN AM  
**Actual_Sunshine:** GET UP AND GET ON THE CHAT  
**God👑** **:** I'm like not even out of bed yet  
**Actual_Sunshine:** shhhhHHHHH  
**Actual_Sunshine:** WHERE TF IS EVERYONE  
**God👑** **:** *grabs popcorn*  
**Actual_Sunshine:** get out of bed lazy ass  
**God👑** **:** i have a really great argument for you  
**God👑** **:** N O  
**Actual_Sunshine:** don't make me come up there  
**God👑** **:** bet :p  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Aladdin i was working out what do you want?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** alright that's 1/3  
**Actual_Sunshine:** now we just need Hakuryuu and Alibaba  
**God👑** **:** Hakuryuu either gets up at noon or at 6 am  
**God👑** **:** there is no in-between  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** that's... good to know  
**Actual_Sunshine:** would his phone be off at this time?  
**God👑** **:** who knows  
**Actual_Sunshine:** dammit  
**Actual_Sunshine:** and i was so excited to share this with you :(   
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** we could wait a little longer  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** do you need a lot of time to tell us whatever this is?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** i need all of your attention for like ten minutes  
**God👑** **:** we gotta hype this up  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** consider me curious  
**Eternal.G.Note:** y'know this was a fantastic way to wake up Kouha  
**Eternal.G.Note:** you guys sent like forty messages but I forgot my phone was in the living room and it kept buzzing until Kouha came out and threw a pillow at me  
**God👑** **:** HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH  
**God👑** **:** love that little guy, he's so much fun  
**Actual_Sunshine:** tell Kouha hi for me, okay Hakuryuu?!  
**Eternal.G.Note:** yea i gotchu  
**Actual_Sunshine:** okay that's 2/3, now we just need Alibaba  
**God👑** **:** how much you wanna bet he won't show up?  
**Eternal.G.Note:** 20$  
**Actual_Sunshine:** GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS :c  
**God👑** **:** sorry bro :p

 **PrinceAli:** this is why i never put my phone on silent  
**God👑** **:** ALIBUBU :D  
**God👑** **:** oh fuck  
**PrinceAli:** what?  
**God👑:** aladdin may or may not be currently out with other friends  
**PrinceAli:** oh rip  
**PrinceAli:** tbh i didn't know he HAD other friends   
**God👑** **:** yeah  
**God👑** **:** and it doesn't look like Haku and Morgiana are gonna join us :/  
**PrinceAli:** sad day  
**God👑** **:** si senorita

 **Actual_Sunshine:** I'm gonna throw myself out the fucking window  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** pls don't

 **God👑** **:** ALADDIN  
**God👑** **:** ALADDIN ALADDIN ALADDIN ALADDIN ALADDIN  
**Actual_Sunshine:** jesus fuck WHAT?  
**God👑** **:** ROLE CALL!  
**God👑** **:** JUDAR >:)  
**PrinceAli:** Alibaba :D  
**Eternal.G.Note:** Hakuryuu -.-  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Morgiana :>  
**Actual_Sunshine:** :0  
**God👑** **:** NOW TELL THE PEOPLE  
**Actual_Sunshine:** omg omg omg omg  
**Actual_Sunshine:** FUCKING FINALLY  
**Actual_Sunshine:** alright some of you might wanna sit down for this  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** wayyy ahead of you  
**Actual_Sunshine:** *rubs hands together*  
**Actual_Sunshine:** how many of you are familiar with how our family works?  
**Eternal.G.Note:** you, the youngest brother, have three siblings, Judar, Yunan, and Scheherazade, correct?  
**God👑** **:** *finger guns* righty-o  
**Actual_Sunshine:** yeah, and Yunan travels a lot  
**Actual_Sunshine:** but he's coming back today  
**PrinceAli:** okay, but what does this have to do with us Aladdin?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** because my nephew is coming back as well!  
**PrinceAli:**...  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I'm sorry your W H A T?!  
**Eternal.G.Note:** I-  
**God👑** **:** yup, all of this is correct  
**PrinceAli:** HOW DO YOU HAVE A NEPHEW???  
**PrinceAli:** AND WHO'S IS IT??  
**God👑** **:** It's Scheherazade's son  
**PrinceAli:** how old is she?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** turning 28 this year!  
**PrinceAli:** and how old is the kid?  
**God👑** **:** turning 14  
**PrinceAli:** so ur telling me that your sister had a CHILD when she was fucking 14?!  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** that's... certainly unusual  
**God👑** **:** it's really not that weird  
**Eternal.G.Note:** it's a bit weird considering teenagers don't often get pregnant here in the USA, at least it's not very socially acceptable  
**God👑** **:** we didn't really have a choice  
**God👑** **:** also back in Saudi Arabia there were girls getting married and getting pregnant at 13  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** i guess our cultures are very different  
**PrinceAli:** what do you mean 'didn't really have a choice'?  
**God👑** **:** we're illegal immigrants  
**God👑** **:** duh  
**Eternal.G.Note:** excusemehowisthataduhmoment???  
**Actual_Sunshine:** Scheherazade had a kid so we could stay in Chicago  
**God👑:** we're citizens now but at the time we were a bunch of kids and a toddler with no parents and no way to provide for ourselves  
**Actual_Sunshine:** i still couldn't imagine it going any other way tho ^w^  
**God👑** **:** frankly i never want to go back  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** i feel like we're getting off-topic  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Aladdin, why are you telling us this?  
**Actual_Sunshine:** because Titus's birthday is coming up! And we wanna throw a surprise party for him! And you are all invited! :D  
**Eternal.G.Note:** will there be alcohol?  
**God👑** **:** have you met me?  
**God👑** **:** there will be alcohol  
**Eternal.G.Note:** then I'm down  
**ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I'll go if Alibaba goes  
**Actual_Sunshine:** Alibaba?  
**PrinceAli:**. . .  
**PrinceAli:** actually, I'd really love to meet the rest of Aladdin and Judar's family  
**PrinceAli:** i think it would be fun  
**Actual_Sunshine:** YESYESYES  
**God👑** **:** oh this is gonna be fun 

**_____________________________________________________________**

"Scheeeeeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeeeraaaaaaaaaazaaaaaaaaadeeeeeeeeee!" Aladdin called from the stairs and practically jumped onto his sister. "Are Yunan and Titus gonna be here soon?"

Scheherazade smiled. "They'll be back soon. Your friends and Sphintus and Kouha should be here before them though, correct?"

Judar also came down the stairs. "Yeah, just got confirmation that Hakuryuu is leaving his house, and Morgiana left with Alibaba about ten minutes ago," he announced.

Scheherazade nodded then proceeded to go through everything in the kitchen and living room. "Do we have everything? All stocked up on food? Drinks?"

Judar laughed and patted Scheherazade on the head. "Don't worry, we're good. I'm sure Titus will appreciate it."

Scheherazade sighed. "I just... I haven't been able to give him a proper birthday before so..."

Aladdin grabbed his sister's hand in both of his and smiled. "He's gonna love it, Scheherazade!" he replied.

Scheherazade smiled back. Then she turned back to Judar. "You have his present in your room, right?"

"Yes, it's in there. I'll bring it out once everyone is here." Judar responded, crossing his arms.

At that moment the doorbell rang and Aladdin dashed up front and threw open the door to see Alibaba and Morgiana, standing there with three gifts each in their hands. "Afternoon, Aladdin!" Alibaba said with a smile.

Scheherazade gasped when Aladdin let them in. "You got all those for Titus?" she asked. "Even though you've never met him?"

Alibaba set his set of gifts down on the coffee table and Morgiana followed suit. "Well, to be perfectly honest my family isn't really that bad off, in fact, we've got more money than we know what to do with. My dad has been giving my half-siblings a monthly allowance of way too much, and recently all of our money and possessions went to me, so really this was no trouble."

"You fucking bastard." Judar slapped him hard on the back. "Who would've thought you'd be so soft?"

Alibaba laughed it off. "Good to see you too, Judar." he turned to Scheherazade. "So, who all will be coming?"

Scheherazade counted on her fingers. "Counting you two, Hakuryuu and Kouha, and then Titus's partner Sphintus, then adding our family... that makes about eight people," she replied.

"Is that small for a birthday party?" Morgiana asked. "I've never been to one."

Scheherazade offered her a small smile. "I think it's the perfect size."

The doorbell rang again and in came Hakuryuu with Kouha on his shoulders. "Hey hey, Aladdin! Good to see ya!" Kouha shouted, jumping down.

Hakuryuu brushed himself off. "We didn't realize we were going to the same place until the last moment. I honestly had no idea he even knew the Magi family."

"Well, granted we didn't know Kougyoku and Judar were friends until like a few weeks ago." Kouha patted him firmly on the shoulder. "Not important, LOOK WHAT WE HAVE!"

Kouha pulled something out of his coat and presented it to the world. It was a really nicely wrapped gift with a little golden bow around it. "Thought the kid might actually cry if he got some actual presents this year."

Aladdin latched onto Kouha in a huge hug, almost making the other drop the gift. Judar promptly caught it and put it on the coffee table next to the other gifts. "Alright, we're just missing Sphintus and Yunan... and of course the birthday boy himself," he said with a smile. 

It didn't take much longer for Sphintus to arrive, a small gift in his hand and his snake wrapped around his neck. Judar remembered watching the two interact before, Titus mentioning how fascinated he was with the golden animal, now whenever they were together Sphintus brought it with him. It was... kind of cute.

The entire party was waiting for about five minutes before the door unlocked. Scheherazade nodded to Aladdin who bounced on the balls of his feet waiting for his brother and nephew to appear. Footsteps sounded in the entryway and in walked in Titus. Aladdin immediately jumped on him and started hugging the life out of him. "Surprise! Happy birthday Titus!"

"A-Aladdin!" Titus shrieked, completely shocked at the scene before him. 

Yunan came in right behind him, suitcase in hand. He waved to everyone. "Hello. We're back."

It took a second of explaining, and Titus nearly had a heart attack, right before he started crying happy tears. Scheherazade came over and hugged him tightly. "I wanted you to have a proper birthday for once," she whispered to him.

Judar smiled, crossing his arms. 

"This was a really great idea." Alibaba leaned in and spoke softly in his ear.

"All Aladdin's, of course," Judar replied. "Hey, thanks for coming, and for getting the kid gifts. He really needs it."

"I've been meaning to ask, do you know who the father was?"

Judar was silent for a bit, before shrugging. "Some guy that Scheherazade knew and was dating. They were in the same English learning group for a while and just kind of bonded. After she got pregnant she just kinda... ghosted him. I guess she didn't really want to get him involved in any of this." he laughed to himself. "What's funny is that she had to deal with raising a kid, and dealing with us three at the same time. Couldn't have been easy."

He looked over at Alibaba. "She never got the chance to have a proper childhood. It's why Aladdin kinda age-regressed... because he never got that. I know I joke about him being a child and stuff but I don't think he even realizes that, mentally, he still _is_ one."

Alibaba offered him a look, one of pity, but also empathy. "I'm... really sorry."

"Don't be, it's fine," Judar responded. "We're happy here, back in Saudi Arabia me, Cher, and Yunan can't even get married. That's more depressing."

Alibaba blinked, then shot him a confused look. "What do you mean-?"

"Judar! Can you get Titus's gift from your room?" Scheherazade called for him.

Titus looked up at her through his tears. "Mom, you didn't-"

"Shush, of course, I did."

Judar gave her a mock salute before running upstairs and coming back down with a box with holes in the side. He placed it in front of Titus who gave it a strange look before cautiously opening the lid. He gasped loudly and practically threw off the lid and reached inside. He pulled out a black and white spotted kitten, barely bigger than his hand. "OHMYGODYOUGOTMEACAT!" Titus yelled and hugged the tiny creature to his chest. "Thank you..."

Yunan laughed and reached down to take Titus's hat off. "You wanna know her name? It's Marga."

"Marga... that's adorable," Titus replied "Thank you all so much again. Truly."

Scheherazade kissed him on the forehead. "Happy birthday, Titus."

**_____________________________________________________________**

The party started at seven and went well into the night. Sphintus, Titus, and Aladdin all fell asleep on top of each other around nine. Once that happened Judar brought out the alcohol and the real party began. 

"You _do not_ have a separate fridge for alcohol." Morgiana gaped.

Judar flashed her a smile. "Of course we do. I'm a bartender, what do you expect from me?"

Alibaba laughed. "Seriously? That's amazing!"

Scheherazade came over with two bottles of wine and handed them to Judar, who gladly took them and set them with the other drink mixes. Yunan drummed his hands on the table. "Hey, can you make that rainbow shot drink?" he asked.

Judar nodded. "Yeah, just gimme a sec..."

He grabbed some of the bottles and one of those shakers things while Alibaba leaned over to whisper to Yunan. "Rainbow shot drink?" he asked.

"You'll see," Yunan replied with a smile. 

It didn't take very long until Judar was setting up about a dozen shot glasses and started pouring the mixture into them. Alibaba watched in awe as the colour of the drink started changing as he went down the line, starting with red and morphing into orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. He and Morgiana were absolutely entranced by it. Judar smirked once he was done. "Go crazy, Yunan," he said, gesturing to the shots.

Yunan rubbed his hands together then started going down the line, downing each one of them in record speed. That absolutely blew Alibaba away. Yunan finished after about a minute and pulled back with a smile, cheeks already rosy from the alcohol consumption. "Tastes like skittleeeeeeeeeeees!" he whooped, falling over.

Scheherazade shook her head. "Why do you enable him?" she asked Judar as he started pouring a glass of wine for her.

He only shrugged. "Because he's my brother and it's fun to watch him drunk."

"Touche," Scheherazade replied, gingerly sipping on her wine.

Kouha came out from nowhere and jumped on Judar. "Hey... hey hey hey hey hey! Can you make me one of those ones that taste like bubblegum?!"

"Nope, not allowed to serve those underage," Judar replied, snickering.

"I am twenty???" Kouha tried to argue.

Hakuryuu came over and picked him off of Judar. "And you're the designated driver for me, so no drinking," he whispered into Judar's ear. "You got Dr Pepper and rum?"

Judar nodded, grabbing both of those drinks and mixing them expertly. Hakuryuu gave him a nod in thanks and took the drink. Judar stared intently at Alibaba, narrowing his eyes before grabbing more ingredients. "Hey, you allergic to honey? Or ginger?" he asked.

Alibaba shook his head. Judar smiled. "Perfect," he mumbled under his breath.

Soon enough he was sliding a golden drink towards Alibaba. "We call this one Ambrosia. I think you'd find it nice."

Alibaba tentatively took a sip, the taste of honey, ginger, and whiskey filling his mouth. It was really really good. He heard the whirring sound of the blender and realized that Judar was making a kind of alcoholic smoothie. He poured it out into a cup and added a sliced strawberry and orange to the side before sliding it in Morgiana's direction. She shook her head. "Sorry, I'm the DD tonight for Alibaba."

"Lame." Judar teased before taking the drink and a spoon, swirling it around before eating it from the cup.

Within the hour everyone who was allowed to drink was absolutely wasted. Scheherazade took the children upstairs so the adults would disturb them and when she came down she had to make sure Yunan didn't try to cook (and potentially burn down the house) in his state. Hakuryuu was crying, slipping in between consciousness and unconsciousness all the while Morgiana was basically holding him like a baby.

And then there was Alibaba, who had somehow managed to worm his way into Judar's lap, talking animatedly to Morgiana, all while almost spilling his drink all over himself. He was being kind of loud but Judar really didn't mind. What matters was he had a lap full of Alibaba.

"Ah... fucking... Judar?" Alibaba whined, flopping his head on his shoulder. "You're so good at dancing... and you..." he struggled with words. "You have a cute butt."

Judar laughed, obviously not sober enough to fully register the words. He patted Alibaba on the thighs. "Thanks, babe," he replied. "Hey... wanna go somewhere and dance with me?"

"Ooh yay." Alibaba giggled, hopping up and letting Judar lead him out front.

"Don't get run over by a car!" Scheherazade called, Yunan clinging to her and groaning.

Judar grabbed both of Alibaba's hands as they stumbled out onto the streets. It was dark, so only the light from the streetlamps illuminated them, but it was more than enough. Alibaba mumbled something under his breath, something along the lines of, "How are we gonna dance without music?"

Judar pulled him close, wrapping his arms around Alibaba's neck and bonking their foreheads together. "We can... we can dance." he let out.

"But no music?"

"Sing?"

"I... I'm not good at sing."

Judar shrugged and started swaying back and forth. Alibaba grabbed his hips in order to stabilize himself. Judar's hand came up to cup Alibaba's face as his lips grazed his cheek. Alibaba made a little whimpering sound. "J-Judar?" he asked. 

Alibaba gasped as Judar nipped at his jawline, fingers tangling into his hair. "Alibaba..." Judar sighed.

There was a giggling sound from next to him, and Judar ripped himself away to tell Alibaba off-

"You said my name correctly," Alibaba spoke.

Judar flushed even redder than he was already, but he didn't look away. He slipped his hands down Alibaba's arms and slowly moved the other's hands lower on his body until Alibaba was basically cupping his ass. The blonde blinked in confusion but then Judar's hands were on his face again and he was forced to make eye contact with his dancing partner.

"I wanna touch you. Dancing with you just isn't enough." Judar murmured, brushing his lips against Alibaba's, the other's eyes fluttering shut, waiting... _expecting_. "Alibaba..."

He couldn't stop himself. He tilted Alibaba's head back and crashed their lips together, no more anticipation. Alibaba pulled Judar closer to him so their bodies were pressed against each other. Alibaba wasted next to no time in licking into Judar's mouth, making the other sigh and knit his brows up. He didn't care that he was drunk, didn't care about how he knew he was getting set up to have his heartbroken, didn't care about how Alibaba may not even remember this in the morning because at the moment it felt too good and he didn't want it to stop. 

But the world really didn't like him.

"Alibaba?"

Judar blinked his eyes open when he realized Alibaba's mouth was no longer on his. The blonde at had looked behind him at the doorway to the Magi's house where Morgiana was.

"C'mon, we gotta go back."

"Right, coming."

Judar didn't remember much else from the night he remembered Alibaba and Morgiana leaving, followed by Hakuryuu and Kouha. Sphintus ended up staying the night, him and Titus cuddling with the new kitten in Titus's bed. Scheherazade had to carry Yunan up to their shared room before coming down to where Judar was half-asleep on the couch. She sat down next to him and turned on the TV. "A Silent Voice?" she asked.

"The only movie I can fall asleep to." Judar agreed.

Scheherazade nodded and put it on. Eventually, Judar did end up falling asleep with his head on his sister's lap, but she didn't mind all that much. She finished the movie and turned the TV off, not bothering to wake Judar and instead falling asleep there with him. She knew he had a rough night, and she was going to make sure he wasn't hurting in the morning.

That's what she was here for afterall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we talk about age-regression Aladdin for like two seconds? Like the kid was basically a fetus for a thousand years and then forced to grow up wayyy too fast and all he wanted was to do normal kid stuff, make friends and go on adventures, but then he got caught up in like three different wars. If there was ever a peaceful moment, I believe Aladdin would've regressed back into a child, even if it's just back to ten years old. 
> 
> Aight, rant over.
> 
> I know NOTHING about alcohol because I personally don't drink so if some of these drinks sound gross that's probably because they are ;w;


	6. I'll Keep you Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Morgiana, there you are."
> 
> Judar looked over and felt all breath leave his lungs. A man walked over with a towel over his long red hair. He was tall, really tall, and incredibly attractive with muscles that made Judar want to drool. Morgiana smiled. "Hey there, Uncle Muu. So I found out that we are allowed to leave our shoes off at the food court, but we should at least dry off a bit first."
> 
> The man newly named Muu nodded and shrugged the towel off his head, then looked over at Judar. "And who's this young man?"
> 
> Morgiana looked over at Judar, almost like she forgot he was there. "Oh, right. Judar, this is my Uncle Muu Fanalis. Uncle Muu, this is the brother of a friend of mine, Judar Magi."
> 
> All of a sudden Judar remembered where he heard the name Fanalis and clamped his mouth shut.
> 
> _FUCK._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there.
> 
> If you're here from my Tumblr, uh, hewwo.

Alibaba royally fucked up this time.

And the worst part is he barely remembered it.

All he remembered was going to the party, parts of the actual event, getting drunk, and then the next thing he knew he was somehow making out with Judar in the street. Morgiana had witnessed nearly the entire thing and described to him the whole thing in excruciating detail the next morning.

Alibaba slapped his face over his red face when she was finished. "Oh my fucking god... he's going to hate me..."

Morgiana shrugged, digging into her yoghurt cup with her spoon. She had spent the night at Alibaba's because she just didn't want to go home and the two were eating breakfast together (Alibaba nursing an absolutely _awful_ hangover) before dance practice today. "It's not like you guys had drunk sex, I feel like that would be ten times worse."

Alibaba turned impossibly redder. "Yeah but like... you don't just grab your friend's ass and make out with them in the middle of the road!"

"But you did do that." Morgiana pointed out.

"Thanks... really appreciate the commentary..." Alibaba rolled his eyes and sighed, banging his aching head against the table to relieve even a little bit of the pain. "I swear if he's straight and I forced a dude-kiss on him..."

Morgiana snorted. "There is no way on God's green earth that he's straight."

"Hey! You can't just assume-"

"He literally said it right to your face and you were too dense to notice!"

Alibaba blinked. What? Was this another drunk memory that he couldn't recall? Morgiana was the one to roll her eyes this time. "Think about it, he told you he couldn't get _married_ in his home country, and he used to live in _Saudi Arabia_ , which has restrictions against what?"

"Uh... gay marriage?"

"Gay marriage. Henceforth Judar is gay or at least attracted to boys and I've already told you he was the one to initiate the kiss." Morgiana explained it like she was talking to a toddler, sucking on her spoon as she did so.

Alibaba shot her a look. "Okay but like... it still doesn't make any sense to me _why?_ "

"Have you ever considered the possibility that he likes you?"

"What?"

"You like him right?"

Alibaba huffed, glaring at Morgiana, but his blushing face gave everything away. Yes, he liked Judar as more than a friend. He liked him a lot, was completely infatuated with him and fantasized about him. Not in that way you weirdos, like going on dates and kissing and stuff... he had only masturbated to him maybe once. But Morgiana didn't need to know that.

"Yeah... I like him..." Alibaba mumbled.

Morgiana nodded, crossing her legs and taking the spoon out of her mouth, twirling it between her fingers, giving Alibaba that dagger stare that he knew she didn't mean to give, she just had a bit of a resting bitch face like the rest of her huge family of red-heads. "Have you considered just... I dunno, _talking_ to him?"

"Wonderful idea! If I want to ruin our friendship forever!" Alibaba slammed his hands on the table, the noise going straight to his head and making him wince. Morgiana sighed and got up to grab a bottle of Advil, tossing it over to Alibaba before coming back into the kitchen with a glass of water for him. "Thanks..." he mumbled.

"You're such a child."

Alibaba swallowed the Advil and gingerly sipped on the glass of water. "I know... but I seriously don't want to ruin whatever we have going, cause if that messes up our dancing then who knows what will happen at regions!"

"But if you don't talk to him you'll be awkward and stiff _until_ regions," Morgiana argued.

Alibaba threw his head back and groaned. "Y'know, sometimes I really... _really_ don't like you," he said.

Morgiana shrugged, standing up. "You still love me," she replied a little too bluntly. "Now you should probably get dressed and take a shower. We'll leave in thirty minutes."

Alibaba sighed but did as he was told. Luckily a shower plus the Advil was able to clear most of the headache and he felt a lot better once he got out and was in some actual clothes, but that might have been because of the Advil as well. Morgiana drove them to the dance studio and when they arrived, Alibaba was trying his best not to have a panic attack.

His feet felt heavy as he walked up the stairs, and he hesitated before entering the room...

Judar wasn't even there yet.

Alibaba was both relieved and could feel his heart sink. What if Judar was skipping out on their practice entirely because of what happened? What if he didn't even want to do the duo anymore? Even after they worked so hard for auditions? How could he? Was Alibaba overthinking this? Probably...

And then he heard his phone ding.

 **God👑:** Hey sorry am late  
 **God👑:** will be there in five minutes tops

Alibaba breathed a sigh of relief and typed out a response.

 **PrinceAli:** can I ask why ur late?  
 **God👑:** Titus has a doctor's app. literally right after we get out  
 **God👑:** we only have one car so we're doubling up  
 **God👑:** so Yunan, Titus, and Cher are gonna hang with us at the studio for a bit  
 **PrinceAli:** that makes sense  
 **God👑:** yea  
 **God👑:** oh speaking of which can you turn the lights down to like, half-light?  
 **PrinceAli:**?  
 **God👑:** Yunan's autistic and like extremely light-sensitive and kinda agoraphobic  
 **God👑:** like the kind where he hates open spaces  
 **PrinceAli:** is that why the lights were so dim at the party?  
 **God👑:** yeah, whenever he's home we gotta close the windows and turn down the lights  
 **God👑:** also the reason why the party was later in the night  
 **PrinceAli:** gotcha, I'll do that now  
 **God👑:** thanks babe

Alibaba closed his phone and walked over to the light switch, turning them down enough so they weren't blinding but they could still see. Only around a third of the lights were actually on.

He felt kind of stupid for mentioning the party, but Judar hadn't reacted badly to it, so maybe he didn't remember the event at all. Hopefully, that was the case...

Five minutes later and in walked in four people. The first one was Titus, pulling Yunan by the wrist, who was wearing sunglasses and a big green... was that a witches hat? Anyways, it covered his eyes but he took the sunglasses off once they arrived in the room. Scheherazade came in next, followed by Judar. Alibaba felt his heart skip a beat when he saw his dancing partner.

"Um, hi." Alibaba waved.

Yunan stared at him, blinking a few times, then looked to Judar and pointed at Alibaba. "Whomst."

Alibaba's mouth dropped open. "Uh, we met at the party? I'm Alibaba Saluja, remember?"

Yunan looked back at him, then scrunched up his nose. "I'm not good with faces," he explained.

Judar laughed and patted Yunan on the shoulder. "Hey, it's fine. Is this dark enough for you?" he asked.

"Yeah, should be fine..." Yunan trailed off.

Titus smiled and ran over to Alibaba. "Hey! I wanted to thank you properly for the gifts you got me for my birthday since I didn't get to at the party. So, thank you so much, Mister Alibaba!"

Alibaba blinked, then broke into a smile. "Ah, you're welcome. I'm really glad you enjoyed them."

There was a clapping noise as Judar approached him, grabbing Alibaba by the wrist and practically throwing him into the middle of the room so he had to spin to keep his balance. "We've got regions to prepare for, now get stretched or I'll rip your hamstrings out," Judar said with a smirk.

Alibaba laughed. "You got it," he replied, shooting Judar finger-guns.

This was good, this felt normal. This was just routine, and maybe part of it was the fact that Alibaba wasn't completely alone with Judar, because most of his family was here. Aladdin was probably upstairs working on his dancing, maybe with Morgiana, so he wasn't here, but with the way Titus watched them excitedly made Alibaba happy he was in the profession he was in. Dancing could really inspire people sometimes. Scheherazade had brought out a book and Yunan had gotten headphones from out of nowhere and had them on, the big clunky ones that were Bluetooth and blocked out all sound. Alibaba vaguely wondered if that was another part of Yunan being autistic.

"He's not listening to anything if you're wondering."

"Hm?" Alibaba replied.

Judar was laying propped up on his elbows as he was completely bent at the waist with his legs spread. Jesus, this guy was flexible. "Yunan's light and sound sensitive, so he's not listening to music, but the noise-cancelling headphones will help when we turn on the music."

"Oh..." Alibaba replied. "Is... uh, sorry if this is rude, but is him being autistic hard on you guys?"

Judar shrugged, sitting up straight again and bending his knees into the butterfly stretch. "Not really, he's an adult now anyways. It's not like we think of him as completely helpless. He can take care of himself."

Alibaba wasn't entirely sure what it meant for a person to be autistic, as he's never met anyone like that before. As for neurodivergent people, the only one Alibaba knew of that he knew was Aladdin. To be perfectly honest, Alibaba was curious and wanted to ask questions, but he felt like right now would be an inappropriate time.

After they were done stretching Judar connected his phone to the aux and walked back over. "Since Hakuryuu isn't joining us today we're gonna have to start by ourselves. Any ideas for what we should do?"

Alibaba chewed on his lip and crossed his arms. "Hmm, this is just a general idea, but if I take over the male part and you take over the female part, with each of us working as more supporting dancers to each part until we come together when they both sing."

"That could work, why me and the female part?"

"Cause that suits you better? Also, I dunno if you've noticed, but your waist and hips are very feminine."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" 

"You know what I mean. Your dancing is prettier than mine."

"What? No, it's not-"

"Is that flirting I hear?" Yunan asked out of the blue. Scheherazade choked back a laugh.

Judar scowled. "Bitch."

"Slut." Yunan retorted.

Scheherazade covered Titus's ears. "Yunan, children."

"Titus is fifteen, isn't he?"

"Fourteen."

"Same thing."

Alibaba covered his mouth to hide his laughter. This was an absolutely adorable family dynamic, and their every conversation had him enamoured. He didn't grow up with a family like this, but he could tell they all genuinely cared about each other. He only could wish he had that. 

Judar turned the music on and Titus gasped when he realized he actually knew the song. Alibaba smiled and reached out to Judar, taking his hand and spinning them around. This was just for fun, they weren't going to actually start the choreography until tomorrow when Hakuryuu was able to come. For now, they were just feeling the music.

Alibaba spun his dancing partner around and Judar fell backwards. Alibaba caught him and Judar smiled up at him. Alibaba winked at him before pushing him back up.

Everything felt so natural, so comfortable. Alibaba could almost completely forget about that unfortunate moment they shared last night. He could just melt while he freestyled with someone he loved.

Love?

Alibaba's train of thought got interrupted when there was a _thunk_ over by the mirror. Alibaba looked over to see that Titus had fallen over from trying to copy his brother's movements. Judar laughed and walked over, picking him up and spinning him around, practically lifting his feet off the ground. Titus yelped but that quickly turned into laughter. When Judar finally let him go he brushed himself off. "Hey, I'm not that little anymore." he teased.

"You still had fun, you're never too old to get spun around by me, plus I know you enjoyed it," Judar replied with a tiny smirk.

Titus made a face. Alibaba smiled to himself.

Yeah, he loved him alright.

**______________________________________________**

There were not a lot of things that Judar found himself regretting in his lifetime. This may end up being one of them.

He swallowed hard as he walked through the sliding door of the hotel and felt the heavy wafts of chlorine hit his nose. There were several people in the lobby alone, parents with kids, couples holding hands, and various other kinds of people.

"Hey there! Can I help you with anything?!" one of the ladies behind a desk called over to Judar.

Judar looked over at her, clutching at his flannel jacket maybe a bit harder than intended to. "Uh, maybe? I'm here to see a friend but I don't know where he is."

"Oh, I can help with that! Is he a resident or a hotel guest?"

"Neither. He works here."

The receptionist raised an eyebrow. "Hm, who is it?"

"Alibaba Saluja..."

Someone from a different desk gasped. "Oh my God. Are you the kid he dances with?!" another lady pointed at him.

Judar hunched his shoulders. "Um, yes?"

The lady he had been originally talking to him smiled and started writing something. "Alibaba works over at the water park." she stood up and held out her hand. "I can give you a wristband to go in and talk to him."

Judar tentatively held his hand out for the lady to wrap one of those ridiculously hard to get off wristbands around his wrist. "Do I have to pay for this?"

The lady shook her head. "Our lifeguards don't allow anyone who's not wearing some kind of swimwear into the waterpark. If you didn't bring any then you don't have to worry about it. And if you're not using our facilities, then it's perfectly fine." she explained. "Alibaba should be working in the obstacle course area, not very far into the waterpark area."

"Okay, thank you."

Judar tried to avoid eye contact as he walked towards where all the signs pointed towards the waterpark, the smell of chlorine only growing stronger. After walking through a set of double doors he came to an area where a bunch of people were walking around. Most were in bathing suits and some appeared to be soaking wet. Judar walked through the crowd trying to find this 'obstacle course area' the receptionist had talked about.

It didn't take him long to spot a familiar head of blonde hair helping a small child wearing swimming trunks into a harness. Then he sent him off into a large area that looked like something in one of those jungle adventure movies.

Judar walked over to that area. Alibaba was watching the kids and teens crawling all over the obstacle course so he didn't realize when Judar snuck up on him.

"Hey."

Alibaba jumped a little out of his skin as he turned around. His eyes widened when he saw him. "Oh my God... you scared me..." he let out a quiet laugh. "Judar, what are you doing here?" 

"Aladdin told me where you worked," Judar replied.

"That doesn't answer my question."

Alibaba kept flicking his eyes over to the sides where the kids were, making sure all of them were being safe. There was a different worker over where Judar assumed was the finish line of the course also watching the kids intently. Judar opened his mouth to speak but then something caught his eye.

Snake bites. Alibaba had fucking _snake bites_.

Small silver balls resting right under his lips. When the _fuck_ did he get those?!

It had completely thrown Judar off guard and now he was just staring like an idiot at Alibaba's mouth.

"Something wrong?"

That snapped Judar out of his trance and he tore his gaze back up to Alibaba's eyes. "When did you get your lip pierced?" he asked automatically.

Judar mentally slapped himself. Why should he ask about something stupid like that? It didn't matter, Alibaba was allowed to do what he liked, but that didn't take away from the fact that Judar found it a bit too attractive for his taste.

Alibaba reached up and gingerly touched the small bulbs. "Oh, yesterday after we got out of dance practice. I've been meaning to get it done for a while, but my dad never really wanted me to do it. He was a bit old fashioned, and thought I'd look like a punk with any more piercings." he laughed. "Even after I became an adult he still grated on me for that."

Judar swallowed hard. "Oh, okay... why didn't you tell me- us?"

"Uh, I did? I put pictures in the group chat."

Immediately Judar pulled out his phone. Did he seriously not get the notification? Sure enough, when he clicked on it there was a string of messages from yesterday after Alibaba had first gotten the piercings. Well, fuck...

"I didn't see them..." Judar trailed off.

"You're good." Alibaba laughed again, waving it off. "It's not really important anyway. Is there a specific reason why you're here? I didn't think you'd be staying at the hotel."

Judar put away his phone and shrugged. "It's cause I'm not. I wanted to talk to you."

Alibaba's gaze shifted over to where his coworker was helping a kid who had finished the jungle obstacle course get out of their harness. "Can it wait? I get off in about twenty minutes."

No, it really couldn't. Judar wasn't even sure if he should be bringing this up in the first place.

Because it was about the party... and their kiss.

Judar had kind of blown the whole thing off. Mostly because he didn't want things to be awkward between them, but they probably should discuss it sooner or later. After all, Judar _had_ to convince himself he wasn't attracted to Alibaba. There was no way he could be, especially not now.

"Ugh, fine." Judar gave in. "You didn't tell me you worked in a fucking hotel."

Alibaba shot him a look. "Seriously, watch your language. There're kids here."

"I really don't give a damn."

"Yeah, well I don't wanna lose my job." Alibaba sighed. "Just tone it down for now? Please?"

Judar crossed his arms. " _Fine_. But I'm not doing this cause I care about your job."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Are you going to answer me? Since when have you been working in a hotel?"

Alibaba drummed his fingers on the little desk area/pedestal he was given to check people into the obstacle course. "Since before we even met. Been working here for around seven months now. Didn't I tell you I majored in hospitality?"

Judar tilted his head. "Uh, I don't think so?"

"Nah, I think I did. Your memory is terrible."

"Oh, shut up." 

Alibaba laughed again. "No, but seriously-"

"Hey, Alibaba? Is there-"

Judar spun around when he heard a familiar voice die out behind him. Morgiana was standing there, towel around her shoulders, a red bathing suit that crossed and hung around her neck practically clinging to her from how wet she was. She blinked when she saw Judar, then furrowed her brow. "When did you get here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Judar replied, snarky as ever.

Alibaba slapped his shoulder. "Don't be rude." he looked at Morgiana. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just wondering if we have to wear shoes to the foot court upstairs if it's connected to the waterpark." Morgiana responded, ignoring Judar completely.

Alibaba shook his head. "No, you don't have to be properly clothed for it either. Although I do recommend you dry yourself off first. How many of you are headed up there?"

"Just some of the little ones and their parents. I'll let them know, thanks."

"No problem."

Judar stepped between them. "Hold up, time out. What are you even doing here?" he asked, pointing at Morgiana.

Morgiana made a face. "If you have to know, the majority of my family are in Chicago for a week and have been staying here. They invited me to go to the waterpark with them so that's what I'm doing."

"Your family?"

"Yeah. The Fanalis family."

 _Fanalis_? Where had Judar heard that name before? It was on the tip of his tongue... ugh, now it was going to drive him crazy.

There was a tiny cry from the obstacle course. Looks like one of the smaller kids got stuck. Alibaba sucked in a breath through his teeth. "I gotta take care of this. Morgiana, take Judar to meet your family. I'll talk to you guys once I go on break." he said, pulling on a harness and attaching to the course. "See ya."

Judar watched as Alibaba took off, climbing up the course with practice speed and agility, heading towards where the child was stuck. He was almost impressed. Almost.

Morgiana sighed and gestured for Judar to follow her. "Come on. Let's go."

"Um, sure."

Judar followed directly behind Morgiana and through another set of doors into the waterpark... which was absolutely huge. There were four different water slides, a lazy river, a big pool that shot out waves every so often, a bunch of other fun water rides. There was even a bar in the middle of it all connected to an 18+ hot tub.

"Oh wow...." Judar breathed. "Uh, so where's your family?"

Morgiana gestured out to the entire waterpark. "All of the redheaded ones."

Judar looked back and felt his jaw drop open. That was maybe half of the people in here, which was over a hundred to begin with, all with the same hair colour as Morgiana. "You're kidding, right?" he asked. "No way your family is that big."

Morgiana nodded. "Not kidding. Our family really is that big."

" _Holy fuck_..."

"Morgiana, there you are."

Judar looked over and felt all breath leave his lungs. A man walked over with a towel over his long red hair. He was tall, really tall, and incredibly attractive with muscles that made Judar want to drool. Morgiana smiled. "Hey there, Uncle Muu. So I found out that we are allowed to leave our shoes off at the food court, but we should at least dry off a bit first."

The man newly named Muu nodded and shrugged the towel off his head, then looked over at Judar. "And who's this young man?"

Morgiana looked over at Judar, almost like she forgot he was there. "Oh, right. Judar, this is my Uncle Muu Fanalis. Uncle Muu, this is the brother of a friend of mine, Judar Magi."

All of a sudden Judar remembered where he heard the name Fanalis and clamped his mouth shut.

 _FUCK_.

Muu looked just as surprised. "Magi... wait, you wouldn't happen to be related to Sch-"

"UM! It was really nice to meet you but I think I'm gonna go now okay bye!" Judar talked a mile a minute and started walking backwards, trying to get as far away from this situation as possible. "Okay bye Morgiana I think I'm gonna talk to Alibaba some other time but I really need to go now BYE-"

He ran out, pushing past people as he practically sprinted out of the hotel and into the parking lot, and when he finally got into the car and slammed the door shut his breathing felt like he was drowning, _oh God_ he was going to hyperventilate. 

His phone dinged.

 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Judar what the hell?  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I haven't known you for long but I know enough to know that was extremely out of character for you  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** Muu is in a state of shock and isn't talking to me so spill

Judar debated telling her everything. But he didn't want to get into all that trauma without permission first. So...

 **God👑:** I cant  
 **God👑:** I'm sorry  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** why not??  
 **God👑:** because i have some kind of respect  
 **God👑:** I'll get permission to discuss it further with you laterr  
 **God👑:** for now just see if ur uncle will talk about it atall  
 **God👑:** we can meet tonight at 8pm at the Kou  
 **God👑:** it's where i work  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** should I be worried?  
 **God👑:** maybe  
 **God👑:** not the point  
 **God👑:** just trust me for now, okay?  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** ok  
 **ErzaScarlet'sSecretLoveChild:** I don't trust you, but I feel like there's a bigger picture I'm not seeing  
 **God👑:** oh, you have no idea...

**___________________________________________________________**

Judar practically kicked the door down. "GUESS WHO I JUST FUCKING SAW?!"

Yunan poked his head out from the kitchen, holding a mug filled with... "Tea?" Yunan asked. "What happened?"

Titus and Aladdin nearly trampled down the stairs and peeked out from the corner. Judar slammed his hands on the counter in front of Scheherazade, who was in the process of taking her earrings off in order to make dinner. "Cher, you're gonna wanna hear this."

Scheherazade raised an eyebrow but gestured for him to go on. Judar took a deep breath. "Alright, so, storytime." he started. "I went to Alibaba's work because wanted to talk to him but didn't even get a fucking chance, not the point, ANYWAYS. Morgiana was there and so she took me into the waterpark to see her family which is fucking huge by the way and-"

"Talking too fast." Yunan pointed out.

Judar cleared his throat and calmed down. "Right, sorry. Basically, she introduced me to her Uncle and I didn't make the connection before but... Morgiana's last name is Fanalis." 

Scheherazade's eyes went wide, her face contorting into an expression of pure shock. Yunan took a sip of his tea and averted his eyes. Aladdin had slapped his hand over his mouth. Titus just looked confused.

"Oh... my God..." Aladdin was the first to speak. "OH MY GOD!"

"RIGHT?!" Judar replied, animatedly gesturing towards Aladdin. "MORGIANA'S UNCLE IS FUCKING _MUU FANALIS_."

It took a second for Scheherazade to properly process this, but when she did her hands came up and covered her mouth. "He's... here?" she asked, voice somehow even softer than before.

Judar nodded vigorously. "Yeah... he's here..."

Scheherazade swallowed hard. Titus came out from around the corner and stood next to his mom. "Mother? Who is Muu Fanalis?"

No response. Titus made a face. "Mother!"

Judar winced and Yunan clamped his hands over his ears and whimpering, sensing a fight. Aladdin once again hid behind the corner. Scheherazade let out a slow breath and looked up at Titus. "That's very simple, Titus. Muu Fanalis is your father."

"TITUS IS YOUR FUCKING COUSIN?!"

Morgiana shot Alibaba a look that told him to quiet down. Alibaba closed his mouth and cleared his throat. "Right, um, sorry..."

"It's fine."

The two were currently in the breakroom, just the two of them. Apparently, this entire situation got... a bit out of control and a little confusing, so the two were trying to make sense of it all. "Muu told me that Magi was the last name of a girl he used to know. Scheherazade, who is Judar and Aladdin's sister. Connected the dots and it's safe to assume he's the father of her child." Morgiana explained.

"That's... oh wow..." Alibaba flopped down on his chair.

Morgiana played with a piece of her wet hair. "Yes, it's certainly an interesting development, however, I feel as though I shouldn't really be surprised as I am. It makes sense, after all."

"Yes, but... to think that you've had connections to Aladdin's family like that for years... and didn't even know it... I think that would fuck me up pretty bad."

"Our family is large, I'm more surprised that Titus didn't inherit the red hair." 

Alibaba chewed on his lip, thinking hard. He supposed this wasn't really the most earth-shattering revelation ever, hell, it didn't even involve him. But... it just seemed a bit off to him, that this was something that they were all completely in the dark about. Aladdin must have realized, right? He had to have known that the man that fathered Titus's last name matched Morgiana's... did he just never realize they could be related? Aladdin wasn't all that smart, the kid struggled with basic math and literature, did he seriously not realize? Judar had an excuse, he didn't know Morgiana's last name until recently, but...

"And... what should we do about this?" Alibaba asked.

Morgiana shrugged. "I'll be speaking with Judar tonight about the matter."

Immediately, that shot a pang of jealously through Alibaba's chest. Morgiana was going to talk to Judar about a family member... _alone_.

"Uh, I should come with you?" he offered.

Morgiana shook her head. "No, this is a simple matter between our two families. If we need your help we will ask for it. But for the moment please stay out of it, alright, Alibaba?"

Alibaba grumbled about it, but he reluctantly did agree.

**___________________________________________________________**

Morgiana looked up at the golden lit sign, spelling out one word. _Kou._ Judar had texted her the proper address and told her around what times he would be here so she came at eight pm. Normally she wasn't a bar kind of person but this was important.

She stepped in and looked around. It was mostly empty, or at least the bar part was. The restaurant part was more full of people. There was a stage but no one was performing. Morgiana immediately spotted Judar who was talking to another employee and leaning against the counter. Morgiana walked over and sat down at the bar, unzipping her coat.

Judar looked over and saw her, smiling and coming over, leaning across the counter. "Heyo. Didn't think you'd actually come."

"And I didn't think I'd ever see you wear a full shirt." Morgiana snapped back. "You know why I'm here."

Judar nodded. "Yeah, but technically I'm still on the job, so can I at least get you anything to drink?"

Morgiana made a face, pinching the ends of her shirt. "Shirley Temple..." she mumbled.

Judar let out a short laugh but didn't comment on it, turning around and grabbing the ingredients off the shelf. "Not much of a drinker I'm assuming?"

Morgiana shook her head. "No, not really," she replied. "Did you get permission to talk about the situation?"

"Yeah. I dunno how much Muu told you, but I'll take a wild guess in saying you already know that Titus is his and Cher's child."

Morgiana watched Judar as he expertly poured the drink and mixed in the syrup, topping it off with two cherries. She nodded. "Yeah, that much I figured. But I... I just can't believe I never realized."

Judar pushed the drink in front of her. "Well, legally Titus's name is Titus Alexius Magi, so you couldn't have guessed from looks or name alone. He takes after Cher in a lot of aspects though."

Morgiana reached out and brought the glass close to her. "But still... it's weird to think that Titus is my cousin. It means that technically, I'm related to Aladdin and you."

Judar smirked. "Yup, family is weird and complicated sometimes. But it's more fun like that I think!" 

Morgiana rolled her eyes, stirring the drink with her straw before taking a sip. "Messy would be a better word for it," she muttered under her breath. "What should we do about it?"

"Do we even have to do anything?" Judar asked, raising an eyebrow. "Honestly, I don't think either of 'em are interested in getting back together."

"Yes but Muu wants to meet his son, and surely Titus wants to meet his father, right?"

There was a bit of a silence. Judar licked his lips and looked down, propping his elbows on the counter. "Titus has mixed feelings about the situation. And Scheherazade isn't particularly interested in any of this drama. I mean, it's hard to tell with her anyways, so I'd have to ask bluntly."

Morgiana drew back, carefully sipping on her straw and carefully considering the whole situation. She looked up.

"Can I offer a suggestion?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Autistic Yunan autistic Yunan autistic Yunan...
> 
> Also HOLY FUCK THIS CHAPTER WAS A RIDE
> 
> I feel like we haven't danced with our cast in a hot second. DON'T WORRY I'LL GET TO THAT NEXT CHAPTER PROMISE
> 
> This felt like kinda too much and not enough at the same time. I also feel like... ugh idk. I feel like this whole thing is one big mess now that I've _attempted_ to clean up but it's majorly failed. I have an outline, I promise I do, however, I tried to add things in here and I'm not sure if they worked or not. Oh well! :D


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